97 corolla charging problem

[jkirkdjr]

Hi there. I'm new to the site and would apriceate any help you can offer. I do all of my own repairs but am stumped by this one.

1996 Corolla, 1.6l, auto trans, power window, no security sys, 170,000 miles.
Alt. was new in Feb. 2010, bench tested it 4 times and it checks out good. Battery is good, and will take a charge from an external charger. Battery charge light is on, and alt. checks bad in the car. I've had to charge the battery at home & work for two day's to get to the weekend so I can fix it.

A related problem is with the A/C system. When I start the car the A/C system has no power, however if I rev the engine the A/C system powers up and works, also if I select High fan speed (bypassing the fan resistor) the fan speed tracks with the engine speed. It blows harder then before the charging problem occured. Battery light is on solid but flickers when power usage is increased ie. using blinkers, headlamp's or power windows.

I'm planning to take it to an auto shop monday but $$ is tight. If you guys can give me any suggestions it would help greatly.

Thank's
Jeff

[Monkey123]

It looks like you have multiple problems. Problems are charging system and A/C problem. Pull the fuse out of the A/C system or take the belt off or disable the A/C system to see if you have a charging problem. When the engine is at idle, you should get somewhere around 14V at the battery terminals. This means is that the alternator is charging back to your battery. If you don't have this readings, check the charging circuit or trace the wire from the alternator to the battery. If I remember it correctly, using your lights, radio, and a/c, these power are draws from the battery. Since your alternator is not charging back to your battery, you are draining your battery. Limit it if you can. Hope this will help. Keep us update.