Ok the battery was going flat after a few hours previously and not charging. so i replaced the alternator with a 2nd hand one and a new battery.

since then it has opperated fine for a month or 2. however the "battery" dash light has always been on and come up with an allarm on startup. then after 2mins the warning light would go away.

after driving somewhere last night. i parked and came back 2 hours later to a flat battery. after jumping it it seemed like it was seriously running out of current as the lights were getting dimmer, the dash lights eventually went out ect.

so i checked all the cabbin fuses (fine). got the multimeter out.

the battery was ~12 sitting with the car off.
with the car running the voltage was dropping consistantly and fast. (down to around 6v when i turned it off)
once off the voltage started slowly and consistantly returning.

jumpstarted again and the same "running out of elec" situation.

so im thinking something is drawing massive juice from the battery or its not getting charged by the alternator and the battery is getting drained by the electrics.


any ideas? it was midnight so i gave up and left it at my mates house

alternator?
something shorting?
relay?
fuses to check?


any idea of where to start troubleshooting?

thanks a milllion guys
Ben

im onyl a bit of a noob but do u have amps or antyhing installed or any wires spliced that might be connecting where they shouldnt and drawing power formt he battery without the ignition on?

a fully charged battery should read 12.6 volts with nothing turned on. with the engine running put your multimeter on the terminals and it should read around 13.8. if its not u maybe have a crook alternator or bad earths from the battery to body or motor. would suggest u take the earth leads off and rough up the contact area on the motor and body with sandpaper, clean up the cable ends and spray them with crc / wd spray. otherwise try another alternator thats known to work

Ok ive replaced the alternator ...AGAIN

and it seems to be working now, positive juice, no warning light.

On my first alternator i replaced the pulley as the bearing s**t itself.

on the (newest) alternator i just got from the wreckers is has the wrong type of pulley on it.....and i just simply couldnt get either one off to swap them over. so for the moment i have my stardard ribbed belt setup running with the alternator with the other type of pulley. it has a profile like the \ / and the belt just sort of sits halfway down.

i know this cant be good for the belt, but any one want to have a guess how long a belt like this will last?

im comfortable swapping belts more regularly however having them fail when you are late is always a pain.

anyone know a special trick to remove the pulley nut/bolt???? I tried using vice grips and i pretty much f**k the good pulley anyway. I also tried putting it back on and using the belts tension to hold the spinning pulley in place with no luck.

oh yeah i dont have an impact ratchet or anything fancy.

cheers guys
Ben

take it back to the wreckers you got the alt from, ask them to swap over the pullys, as they will just use a rattle gun and will only take them five mins..

1st post sounds like alternator to me