intermittant heavy load on Alternator?

[Nathan Winters]

I had suggested that in the past, so I took it offline this time.  Here's it is for keeping track I guess.  I believe it is worth looking into on any car with this splice in there.




----- Original Message ----
From: Feelstranger <feelstranger at hotmail.com>
To: Nathan Winters <natewin at yahoo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 12:24:37 P
Subject: Re: intermittant heavy load on Alternator?

Well, I did not open the heat shrink at the splice and look, so perhaps
 I 
should.  After the initial burn, I looks at that splice, and found no 
evidence of heat, and have never found it warm while running so assumed
 it 
was OK.
Never any trouble starting...
Yes, relying on the dash meter for voltage.
Guess I'll take a look at that splice just for fun.
Thanks
Nat
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nathan Winters" <natewin at yahoo.com>
To: "Feelstranger" <feelstranger at hotmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 11:54 AM
Subject: Re: intermittant heavy load on Alternator?


> You are 100% sure that it isn't the large wire going from the
 alternator 
> to the battery?  You could test this by running a cable from the
 jumper 
> post under the hood to the battery terminal.
> I know I've suggested this before but you have almost the exact same 
> symptoms I had.
>
> Are you relying on the gauge in the car to tell you voltage or are
 you 
> going by what is off the alternator.  I don't know that either is
 reliable 
> when the battery isn't seen on the system (as in my case).  I recall 
> having very strange readings at the output of my alternator when this
 
> happened.  I also had readings less than 12v on the gauge or testing
 at 
> the cigarette lighter with a meter when the car was running.
>
> The squeal may be your (low on charge) battery suddenly becoming
 connected 
> and drawing quite a bit of current to charge?
>
> One other thing that happened to me that you don't seem to have is
 that my 
> car would not start from the battery when I shut it off and tried to 
> restart during this condition.  Turning the key would activate the
 starter 
> solenoid but not the motor itself.  I could jump start from the post
 under 
> the hood but not from the battery (this is how I figured out that my
 cable 
> between the alt / battery was the problem)
>
> Before repairing the problem I found I could push / pull the cable
 running 
> under the airbox into the firewall to get it to have a good
 connection 
> again.  The cable after the spice going through the firewall to the 
> starter was in very bad shape when I pulled it out to fix everything.
  The 
> cable from the battery to the splice was fine and I reused it.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Feelstranger <feelstranger at hotmail.com>
> To: 200q20v at audifans.com
> Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 10:15:08 AM
> Subject: intermittant heavy load on Alternator?
>
>
> So, back a while I mentioned to the list the I had an electrical
> meltdown that filled the interior with smoke while SO was driving.
> Never found any evidence of meltation.
> Messed with dash and alt circuit for a while trying to diagnose a low
> charge issue that may, or may not, have been related.   Eventually,
 it
> appeared to be working again with no particular help from me, as far
 as
> I know.
> Interior is still in the garage, dash mostly uninstalled, and fire
> extinguisher on the pass seat!  What I do to drive this car!
>
> To the question....
> Driving it since then, I have experienced many incidents of low
 voltage
> on the voltmeter that typically go away eventually, or are gone at
> next start.
>
> Recently, I realized that this intermittent low charge (voltmeter
> indicates as low as 12 V while running, sometimes more) was
 accompanied by
> occasional belt squeals which got me thinking that the low charge was
> actually a large load on the alt.
>
> Turning off lights, radio, seat heaters, etc, only helps a
> little.
> Could I have a major short that is doing this?
> So my plan (when I get the opportunity) is to start pulling fuses
 when
> the charge is low to see If I can isolate the problem circuit.
>
> I'm open to other ideas, or BTDT.
> Thanks
> Nat
> _______________________________________________
> 200q20v mailing list
> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/200q20v

----- Original Message ----
From: "Rbade12 at aol.com" <Rbade12 at aol.com>
To: feelstranger at hotmail.com; 200q20v at audifans.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 2:22:00 PM
Subject: Re: intermittant heavy load on Alternator?


Got good ground and has the infamous splice been explored?
 
Bob



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