Electrical Gremlins

[SilvertopRyan]

Well, I just bought this car on Saturday. He had just put in a brand new alternator. The car ran fine all day Saturday. As soon as it rained, when I started it, it would shoot up to 18v whenever I revved the engine. I figured it had to be an electrical connector issue since it ran fine all the time when dry.

A while later I came home and the car was dead - needed a jump, but the 18v issue was gone. Well, I used dielectric grease to seal all the connectors I could find, but can't get to the alternator wires.

After sealing all those connections, I tried to start it agian, and the battery had enough draw to drain in about 3 hours! The only odd thing I noticed was that the left turn signal blinks fast even though both bulbs work... could that be a short? I'm just not sure where to start on this one...

[toyomoho]

18V is a little high, is this with everything off? What is voltage with the lights on? Does the alt have a built-in regulator?

If a short a fuse would blow.

The alt is either not charging or there is a major load on the engine. The alt should put out 70-80 amps.

With ign switch on place an ammeter between the battery cable and battery terminal. Don't crank the engine or you will destroy the meter. Determine the amperage flowing. Do the same with the engine off.

If the battery drained in 3 hours my guess is the alt is not charging the battery.

The rain may or may not have been an issue.

[SilvertopRyan]

Looks like the water was the issue. One of the POs had put in an alternator and left out the O-ring on the connector. The plug got wet, shorted the alternator and drained it. When I hit the gas, the alternator put out 18v because the regulator wasn't working properly (yes, it's built-in).

We'll see what happens. I'm making a cover for the alternator and packed the connector with di-electric grease and my brother is getting the correct ring for it at work tomorrow (he's a tech at the dealer).

A free fix is a good fix.