Well It was nice today, so I decided to take the Buick to work. Well just recently I mounted the battery in the trunk and put a kill switch in the bumper. I ran altanator wire to the back as well and mounted it in with the battery wire on the switch side the battery is on. I got everything hooked up, works great... switch kills the motor instantly. Well recently I've noticed I gradual decrease in electric power (slow turn signals, not cranking over as fast). Well on my way home from work the headlights barely glowed and the radio skipped on and off. I turned off as much stuff as I could to at least keep the lights, fuel pump, and ignition runnin... well i pulled into the closest gas station left the car running while I called home to have a spare battery brought down to me so I could at least make it home... well idiot me hit the fan switch while trying to save power ou: .... I look over and steam is rolling out from the hood... I throw the phone down to run over and shut it off... well the temp gauge is buried... but im not sure how accurate it is... as soon as you start the car... its winds all the way around then drops back to the right temp within a min... its one of those manual autometer water temp guages (phantom, if that makes a difference). Well i hit the fan switch and left it run to at least cool it down to about 200 on the gauge.... i hoop back in and try to see if it will turn over... i got a click and then everything went dead.... no fuel pump whine, no interior lights, nothing.... i jump out and hit the switch and thought to myself with fear that the starter kicked in and couldn't turn over cause the motor was locked. :ball: Finally my mom shows up and i hook the jumper cables up... flip the switch on and still absolutly NOTHING no power at all... i take off the jumper cables and take the wires off the fuel pump relay and directy give the pump power right off the battery... NOTHING... now i figure maybe the battery is just hosed and the switch is blew... i undo the cables on the switch and fix them together bypassing the switch... put the jumper calbes on and still NOTHING... next i go up under the hood to were i have a terminal block... unhook the wire from the trunk and put the jumper cables on the terminal block and neg on some engine bolt... FINALLY i got some power.. put isnt enough to turn the motor over.. just clicking... i role under the car and to my delight am able to turn the motor over with a screw driver wedged between the flywheel and starter... we towed it to my uncles and let it sit.. I took the battery out and got 12v out of it with the multimeter??? I've been thinking about what went wrong??? Could the cable from the trunk to the front is shorting out somewere? or could it be the switch or battery???... and also i have a stock 70amp? alt running a car with full power interior electric fan, electric fuel pump. Is this enough to keep everything charged??? If this battery is bad its the 3rd battery in the car... would it be wise to go with a 110 or a 140 amp alt... ??? If anyone could help has a suggestion to what it could be... I would really appreciate it.... I dont wanna be roling around in the road infront of my uncles house trying to solve my electrical problems... and also letting the motor get that HOT... could it hurt anything seriously i should worry about before i get this thing fired back up?? Thanks a Million, Andy www.regal455.com
I would check any and all connections. Sounds like maybe your alternator can't keep up or maybe the alternator feed to the battery is to small guage of wire. I would think about getting something a little higher amp though, especially if you have coolant fans and the like, plus the long cable runs. Those long runs will eat up half your power.
I have a 350 skylark hei ignition,electric cooling fan that pulls a ton of amps. After killing my battery in the same way you described "flash backs" I upgraded to an SI alternator from a 83 chevy suburban which is a 78 amp internally regulated alternator. It works great no problems at all. I got the alternator from auto zone for $40 plus core. I definetly recommend the switch from externally regulated to internally regulated alternators.
WIRE WOES Here is a bit of friendly advise, check the gage vs. length of the wire. Sounds like your getting the power, its just as it goes through the line is loosing it! The wire is usually the problem because the longer the wire, the lager the gage you would need. I really don't know whats the correct ft. to gage size to use, mabe some one else could help out with that one! Just as a quick check, as the car runs, touch the positive line, if its hot, the gage is too thin and your loosing current through the line! Just something to check! :Smarty: Larry
Found the problem today... It was a toasted alternator. I must have been driving the car the past week just on the battery and just so happen it went dead last night. The reason I wasnt getting any power up front with the multimeter was because the battery was just alive enough to show 12v right on the battery but was too dead to show a current all the way upfront through the thick cable. Thank God for life time warrenty's. I got a new alternator which is the stock 60amp. I started the car and then disconnected the battery.... instantly.. the fuel pump whined down the lights dimmed and motor ran ruff... well i figure the stock 60amp alternator is just getting by... I'll prolly be purchasing a higher amp one in the near future. Also I wanted to add... the wire i have runnin back to the battery for the alternator... its an 8 gauge wire... doesnt get warm at all... this should do the trick. Thanks again, Andy www.regal455.com
Andy, disconnecting the battery with the car running is a no-no. you can burn the diodes out of the alternator, or do other bad things to the rest of your electrical system. Just so you know
Yeah, i think thats is what killed it.. I made sure it worked a few times :Brow: . Just today I found a warning paper in my switch box that cleary states how it can ruin the diodes ou: Ah well, the alterator has a lifetime warrenty if it happens again. Thanks again for all the help! Andy www.regal455.com
Andy, 8 gauge wire is NOT nearly big enough for a battery cable to the trunk. I use 2 ga welding cable minimum, sometimes larger. Good luck
8 gauge is probably fine for the alternator, but not for the starter motor! Get the biggest cable you can for that (00?). Also, just as an FYI, you will only get voltage drop through a cable when it is under load, so if the starter motor is not turning, your reading at the front of the car should be the same as at the back of the car. -Bob Cunningham bobc@gnttype.org
Yeah the alternator wire is 8 gauge. The actual starter wire is 2 gauge indistrial wire from Lowes (Hey it was cheaper than a kit through Jegs). It is stiff and was a MAJOR pain routing it through the frame well. I still get lose of voltage somewhere. Its really odd on what it does. It will start fine all day long, then go to start it up some random time... and it barely turns the motor over. Just last Sunday at the track it did that in the staging lanes and thought for sure I was gonna need a jump if I shut the car off. Well figures a car oils down the track, so I shut it off. I figure I might as well leave the fan on and let it cool down cause I was gonna need a jump anyway. When the line started moving, I went ahead and tried to start it... fired right up with no hesitation??? o No: I had the battery tested, GOOD (shows 11volts under load). My alternator is but not a week old (but only 60amp). And the starter was just replaced before winter.
I have a buddy that had the same problem with his nova drag car. Everytime the engine got warm the starter struggled to crank the engine over but, when it was cool the problem went away. The starter he was using was also pretty new. After replacing the starter he had no problems. This problem was with a high torque starter for higher compression engines. Now he uses a heat shield to keep the heat away in order to keep the problem from coming back. Rob
The alternator wire has to run to the back in order to kill the car when the kill switch is flipped. If the alternator wire is still on the ignition side of the switch, the car will still run off the alternator's power. NRHA rules
I'm not too keen on alternators but mine I think is called a 3-wire alternator. A plug with a black and red wire plugs into the top which i think is just for a the VOLTS idiot light on the dash but i'm not sure. The other wire is on a post in the back of the alternator. This is the wire I tested that actually puts the charge into the system. So, I ran that wire to the back of the trunk on the battery side of the kill switch.
oOk that makes sense but how does it connect to the kill switch and how does it kill the alternator?? Thanks again,Tim G.uzzled:
I have no clue how it kills the alternator. The other thing I can think of is when the motor is killed, the last few seconds it is turning over after the kill switch is hit... the alternator is still turning creating juice and has nowhere to go. Somehow I dont think that is right. But for some reason it kills the alternator after a few times of flicking the kill switch uzzled: I notice how the guys at the NHRA tech didnt bother to test it... They just ask everyone if it worked or not. Is this laziness or do they do that cause they know if kills alternators...?
