Not charging. car runs till battery dies.

[norcimo]

Greetings,

As some of you may already be aware.. I just got a Delorean.

the car is not charging, the previous owner in all his good will, put a LED on the Battery Lamp in the cluster.

I since changed it back, I used a 161 bulb.

Symptoms,

1. BATTERY light does not turn on, I have not seen ever when ignition is on, during crank or normal driving.
2. Car dies once voltage hits 8V, and as it does it sputters when giving gas..as voltage drops

I charged the battery over night, EVERYTHING PERFECT...but as the driving went by, and hour or so, battery died. Clearly not charging.

Please point me in the right direction..Thank you

[davidc89]

Alternator? Take your alternator out and get it tested. Check to make sure the wires are hooked up and intact.

[Patrick C]

Alternator? Take your alternator out and get it tested. Check to make sure the wires are hooked up and intact.

This. Also see how old the battery is. It might be good peace of mind to replace the battery and alternator.

[norcimo]

Alternator? Take your alternator out and get it tested. Check to make sure the wires are hooked up and intact.

AS far is my understanding, the alternator was already replaced.

what concerns me is that, I get no BATTERY INDICATOR lamp.

I will check the connections to the alternator.

My smart battery chargers indicates the battery is still good. ITs a die hard, 2 years old. And it takes a charge, drove around for hours before it died.

I need to check to see if the system is charging.

have a volt meter what should I look for? I read 14.4V at the terminals? is this correct?

[norcimo]

AS far is my understanding, the alternator was already replaced.

what concerns me is that, I get no BATTERY INDICATOR lamp.

I will check the connections to the alternator.

My smart battery chargers indicates the battery is still good. ITs a die hard, 2 years old. And it takes a charge, drove around for hours before it died.

I need to check to see if the system is charging.

have a volt meter what should I look for? I read 14.4V at the terminals? is this correct?

Also, before delivery of the vehicle, it began to give issues. probably due to bulb LED swap.

The mechanic got it running by jumping a cable from a browm alternator wire to the POSITVE led on the right wall of the engine compartment. (please explain what they did here)

This jumper has been removed since..
THANKS

[norcimo]

39706ok, I pulled this of the Alternator, Its was very loose, took no effort...has one pin.

I think the pin has lost contact. going to extract the pin, and see if it can be repaired.

ill keep you posted..

[AugustneverEnds]

The light bulb for the charging system warning lamp must be incandescent and working for the charging system to work properly. What VIN is your car? I do believe the early cars had more design problems in the electrical system. Start with the bulb and work from there

[norcimo]

Also, before delivery of the vehicle, it began to give issues. probably due to bulb LED swap.

The mechanic got it running by jumping a cable from a browm alternator wire to the POSITVE led on the right wall of the engine compartment. (please explain what they did here)

This jumper has been removed since.. because that also stopped working too....
THANKS

because that also stopped working too....

[norcimo]

Guys, I repaired the connector.. its tight.

and guess what... ITS CHARGING!


voltage is 14.01...13.98 ...14.01 on idle

the car is no longer Idle hunting neither..

I need to replace that connector..

Still the BAttery Light has not come on..

[Dangermouse]

Is it a good bulb? Are you getting voltage at the bulb socket?

Could be the connectors to the board in the binnacle.

[Bitsyncmaster]

You may have a broken connection on the battery light. When the key is on, one side of the battery light gets voltage with all the other lights. The alternator then grounds that brown/yellow wire which grounds the other side of the light and turns it on.

So your test is to ground that brown/yellow wire at the alternator plug and see if the light turns on. If it does then your alternator is not working. If still no light than you probably have a broken connection.

But with 14 volts holding on the battery, you are charging anyway.

[norcimo]

You may have a broken connection on the battery light. When the key is on, one side of the battery light gets voltage with all the other lights. The alternator then grounds that brown/yellow wire which grounds the other side of the light and turns it on.

So your test is to ground that brown/yellow wire at the alternator plug and see if the light turns on. If it does then your alternator is not working. If still no light than you probably have a broken connection.

But with 14 volts holding on the battery, you are charging anyway.

I suspect I have a broken connection or simply the stupid socket is bad.. I cleaned all the contact on that thing, including all the fuses and relays too.


When the it was not charging the voltage meter on the DASH was below the 13, and going lower and lower as the battery drained when I put more load..

When I made the fix, the needle is slightly above the 13...and it holds steady.. Tried high beams, held steady and tried AC, held steady. Before the voltage would just drop...specially if I was to use AC...killed the engine.

Going to have the alternator connector replaced with a new one. the connector itself is loose in the socket...the pin is tight.