battery charging

[paulmcarlino]

i have a problem with my charging system in my daily driver 5.0. Battery has been tested it is 4 monthes old. The alternater is less than a week old from a reputible local builder. the idile volts are around12-13. 2000 rpms 15-16 volts. do volts have any relationship with amps being recharged into the battery. it has march underdrive pullies but i have them on two other car and several friends use them on their car with no problems. i can only think of ground cables going bad.

So is the volts are going from 13volts to 16volts with rpms incresing can i test the amps being given out by the alternater and amps going into the battery?

[copwithacobra]

I have had a similar problem. I assume that you bought the March pulley kit. They sell other pulleys individually. I replaced the alternator pulley with a smaller one. I think it is two inches in diameter. Mine was special ordered through a local O'Reilly Auto Parts store. I'm sure that a good local parts store could help you though. Replacing this pulley upped my alternator output to between 13 and 15 volts at idle. I hope this helps.

[paulmcarlino]

my volt at idile are between 13-14 with 2000rmp it jumps to 15-16 volt. most of the time the car starts perfect. once in a while no turn over. just that clicking sound. the battery is new but the specific gravity is 1.210 which on the gauge says it low. i'm giving the battery a charge tonight and i'll read it in the morning. the problem is that this doesn't happen all the time so it is hard to trace when the problem is intermitent

[Bob Cowan]

If it's making 13-14 volts at idle, and 15-16V at 2,000 rpm, then the alternator is within specs. It's fine, so look in other areas.

First, check the external voltage regulater. Then, I would remove all the cable connections and clean them good. If anything looks suspicious, replace the cables. Lastly, check your engine to frame ground strap. Again, clean all the connections, and replace if suspicious.