baddestmofo

this is not right...

As far as I can remember, everytime there's been a problem with electrical drain/ charging that changes with engine speed- in every car, truck bike that I've had that problem- it has been an alternator or voltage regulator(stator?).

Maybe I don't remember this correctly, but isn't the voltage regulation performed inside the alternator?

I have replaced the alternator on this car, but I still get changes on the in-dash voltmeter depending on the engine speed and things like lights, windows going up and down, etc.

The battery doesn't want to seem to charge beyond 9 or 10 volts and drains quickly if the car isn't running. I thought battery might be the problem, but I have two of them and the symptoms are the same with either.

I thought there might be a short somewhere, but after running it yesterday I disconnected the positive terminal. I still had to jump it and everything else was the same after plugging it in and playin' with it today.

Could this be a short somewhere else on the car, or a voltage regulator that isn't part of the alternator assembly, or what?

mjr46

well first you need to determine if the battery is good , via a load test, have autozone test it, then make sure the alt is putting out the proper amperage not just voltage, again , an alt test would be inline with a vat 40 or such, and then make sure that output reaches the battery, with a vat 40 it's easy to confirm such, or use a dvom set to amps, if dead batteries are the issue check for a parasitic drain with a dvom set to amps hooked in series with neg battery terminal and batt post