I unscrewed the alternator power wire where it goes into the chassis fuse box. I started up the car and ran on battery power and multimeter tested the now loose alt wire.

the civic with the good alternator buried the needle. The non charging civic had the needle in the red. It doesn't actually give voltage numbers, just good and bad readings, meant for a battery.

If i power test it while its inline with the battery, teh battery voltage screws up the reading giving much better results. Bottom line, the battery isn't being charged, i'm just trying to figure out if the alternator works or not.

This is a brand new rebulit alternator by the way, friggin bloody thing, been trouble shooting my swap for a full friggin week now. Worst time for two bad alternators in a row, don't know if its my wiring, the computer ahhhhg!!

thanks

d

 

why are you doing it the hard way .... just put a volt meter on the battery when the car is running and if it is between 14.0-14.4 your good if lower or higher your alternator /voltage regulator is bad .... no need to mess with disconnecting wires....

 

how so u test an alt if it is out of the car ? ie :testing it out b4 fore u buy one

 

well, this is the second alternator i've had on there that should have been good. I'm just trying to make sure it IS the alternator and not wiring or whatever.

Just checking the battery won't tell me if the alt is putting out some current, like i think this one is. I'm trying to eliminate other things, seeing how i just did the swap and this is happening at the same time. I just hope my system isn't blowing them.

I'm going to sub in yet another "good" one tomorrow and see.

I wish i knew how to check them while they're out. Might need some device to spin em i'd think.

d

 

most large chain auto parts stores have a machine to check them out of the car. Stripped is right, with the car running, hold it around 2k rpm and put your meter leads on the battery(should be 14ish). To prove this, do the same test with the charge back wire removed(should be 12ish if the batt is good). Do a voltage drop test of the charge back wire too. Let us know the results.