jessewdoss

Alright, I installed a system in my 84 gt the other day and when I finished up I went to start the car and it wouldnt start, I ran the battery down trying to get it started. Come to find out 2 of the header bolts fell out and the gasket was busted, so I changed that out, everything seemed fine so I went for a ride. About 15 minutes into the trip the radio starts cutting off everytime the bass would hit, then if I tried to run the car hard it would stall out really bad. I cut it off and it wouldnt start back, I jumped the car off and let it run for a while and pulled the posotive cable off the battery and it died, did it again with the negative cable and it died that way too, so I assumed the alt. was bad. I took it off and went to the parts store and the alt that they gave me wasnt the right one, come to find out I have a 97 tbird alt on the car. I looked up the part and there is a warning that says a low battery will cause the alt to overheat. My alt. that I took them tested good, but it wasnt working on the car. Do you think that I could have overheated my alt that was on the car when I had to jump it off the first time? What else would make the car do what it is doing?

hotstang97gt

umm im not shure ive ran my battery down a few times and never had probs with my alt. the problem with your radio sounds like you have it hooked up wrong. or it could be your amp overheating . i forget what my friend did to fix it

jessewdoss

No, the alt. is off a 97 tbird and it has a warning for that particular alt. that if you run the car with a low battery that it could overheat the alt.

w8less

if u have a really nice system u need to buy a capacitor and then go get a alt for a 94-95 mustang they are 130amp alt and then problem solved.

Fox

I agree with jasperstang that your alt. is probably not able to supply the current needed. Does the car stall with the stereo off?

jessewdoss

OK, so I unhooked all the stereo stuff that I wired in, replaced the alt and the battery last saturday and the car died by tuesday. I put it in the shop and the guy said that my positive terminal was bad and he replaced it, and that didnt fix it. when the car is off a volt meter on the battery reads 11.70 volts, the solenoid and the alt reads the same, when the car is running I get the same results. I'm thinking I may have killed the ignition switch because thats the only power wire I really messed with when installing the system. Would the ignition switch have an effect on the charging system?

marx91

sounds like theres a constant draw on the batt.
take a 12 volt test light, unhook the pos. batt. cable, then connect the light
between the batt. cable and pos batt. terminal and if the light comes on
something is drawing on the battery, get someone to start pulling fuses
while you have the light connected and see if any of them make the light go out (if so)
then look in your ownwers manual to see whats on that fuse

90GTRagtop

If it's only showing 11.7 volts when the cars running, it's definitely not charging. If you shorted anything while connecting the alternator, you may have blown a fusible link or a fuse. The alternator must have a positive wire to both the battery charging post, and to the field excitation post. A break in either one will prevent charging. Also, it the alternator isn't grounded good (including a good engine ground back to the battery) it won't charge properly.

Also, did the '84 have an internal regulator or a seperate voltage regulator? If it's seperate, then the reguator could be bad. Also, if it's seperate, how did you take care of the wiring for a 97 alternator that's internally regulated? An lastly, are you sure the wiring to the alternator is correct since you state you're using a different type from the original?

Tims 88GT

ok i had the same problem with my car but it was because my fans pull so much from the alt, my car can not idle if the fans are running, get your battery charged then get a new alt if you fried the old one, that will fix it, but you need like a 130amp alt, and damn dose it smell when you fry an alt.

Sinister Audio

first of all why did you tap into the ignition swtich to install your stereo? and a cap wont help you at all itll make your car die faster. i would disconnect your stereo and check your fusable links and if they are burned out get new ones and take our car and have your system professinally installed