I have a 1997 v6, no mods.

I recently took off my aftermarket ebay cai and went with the stock one i had with my k&n filter. When I changed that, I noticed my battery positive had alot of crap built up around it. So i grabbed a wirebrush and scrubbed most of it away. Anyway, I didnt d/c the positive when cleaning, but I DID d/c the negative after the stock install to see if it would permemntantly fix my check engine light problem (that surfaced shortly aFter my cai install). Anyways, the check engine light came back on.

So my problem, my car volt meter when on always reads around 10v or less, and seems to dip downward very slowly possibly. All my dashboard lights are very dim.

This happened right after the battery disconnect/caI install. I looked at the neg and it seems to have a tiny tiny gap between the bottom of the connecter and the bATTERY termiNal,m does thT NEED TO BE pressed tight to the battery as possible? Could this be a Failing alternATOR?

 

sounds to me like your alternater is bad but yes the ground should be connected tightly this could cause some loss in charge but 10 volts is pretty low should be around 13 i don't think cai has anything to do with this