[Vwdiesel] charging issues

[raymond greeley]

I found what i thought was a faulty alt, charging at approx12.5 volts +/-, battery consistantly would be low. the car has been parked for the better part of the year while i waited for time to fuss with it. Now that the replacement 91 jetta lost a clutch I am back to noodling through the charging issue. I swapped in a proven battery, an alt that puts out 14 + volts on a homemade bench tester (spinning the alt with an elec motor and giving the stator 12 volts ).
with this alt on the car it will put out 14 + volts until attach the wire from the alt pos terminal to the battery upon which it drops the voltage to battery
voltage, in my case 12.5 +/-. Is this typical and if not where might i look for the culprit. Is there too much resistance in the cable from alt to battery or incomplete grounding of the alt or something in the cars wiring that is causing this issue. I am hoping for help here as i need to get this issue resolved soon to have this car available for commuting. thanks, ray
_________________________________________________________________
Make every e-mail and IM count. Join the i’m Initiative from Microsoft.
http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/Join/Default.aspx?source=EML_WL_ MakeCount