So, I bought the car a week ago. Drove a couple days fine. Says 172, but service record shows it had 273k in 2017. Cluster may have been removed for one with less miles.

I was driving and the cluster gauges went out. Radio goes out. Stalled. I took out the battery and the alternator and took it to Oreilly's and they both tested fine. Battery was recharged. I'm wondering if a fuse or relay is to blame. Multimeter arrives tommorow. I'm gonna put the positive lead on the battery and the negative on the alternator wire to see if the charge is making it to the battery. I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction.

Thanks

 

Also, after I got it jumped, volts went from 11 to 9 volts within minutes. 100 amp fuse looked ok. 50amp is hard to remove. Need 3 hands.

Thanks

 

What ?!?

Disconnect the charging wire at the alternator and the fuse box. Check CONTINUITY between the two ends of the wire. Broken or corroded strands within the charge wire will create resistance... so, if you read very close to zero, you are good. Crank the car with the charge wire still disconnected... place the positive lead on the alternator charging stud and the ground lead on the shock tower and see what the alternator output is... if it isn't above 14 volts, your alternator is suspect.

 

Please forgive me, but I don't know where the wire connects from the alternator to the fuse box. I am trying, but I couldn't trace it. I did get the battery and the alternator back in. I got it to start charging the battery from 13.55 to 14.3. But after a drive, it was back down to 12.5 with the engine still on. I'm wondering if the belt is too tight cause extra strain on the engine and alternator. I also read that the PCM restricts the voltage to 12.5 when the brake isn't applied. I know it has too much oil in it and needs to be changed. Bad sound from the engine. This car wasn't properly maintained and I'm just trying to catch up.

 

So, I bought an OBDII scanner for about $60. No error codes since I had to keep unplugging the battery. So, I turned on the recording function and got a freeze frame during a drive that resulted in P0420. Possible causes are faulty fuel injectors, bad exhaust tubes, intake leak, or cat. Exhaust sounds like it's rattling.Replaced the JCase 40a fuse and now the heated seats, seat movement and recline, and cruise control are working. 14v while I was driving, but it was down to around the 11v mark parked w/ engine on. I'm getting 12 volts at the alternator. Black/yellow wire is 12v. 3 wires that connect to the computer are all over the place. I'm thinking the alternator is working sporadically. Possibly a parasitic drain on the battery.

 

I didn't see any responses because the ads at first. Wanted to let everyone what was wrong in my circumstance for the sake of the community. So, I got 12.5v engine off. 13.5 to 14v started. But, after I started driving it would drop down to 11v. I diagnosed it properly, but wanted a shop to look at it to verify. They pulled it in several times and couldn't figure it out. It was the alternator. Just goes to show, that even if it is charging after starting, doesn't mean it is strong enough. Voltage regulator on alt most likely. I would work on it for 20-30 minutes started and start feeling sick with the garage open. So, I was pretty sure the catalytic converter was toast. I was right on both accounts, but slipped a disc working on it. I had to let the shop do what I had already done during my testing. I pick it up tomorrow and we shall see.