Battery is good but is not getting a charge.

[svxsubaru1]

Today i was going to go to the all high school drag, and went to pick up my friend, then when i tried to start the car, the starter wouldent even click. So i wiggle some grounds around tring to get it to work nothing worked. So luckley we were on a hill so i put it into reverse and poped the clutch to get the car to start it ran almost perfectly ecpet for all the lights on the dash came up but were fading out and in. So i drove around for a minute and stoped on the top of a hill to try to see if i could turn it off and resart it. Nothing again i got out and wiggled the grounds again nothing. Then i noticed that my seat belt dident even have enough power to move forward when i opened the door, and no lights would pop up on th display any more so I poped the clutch again and drove home. While i was costing down a hill while the car was running i wanted to check if the starter is good, so i turned it for a sec at low rpms and sure enough the starter is good. So i went home and i am still charging the battery. I am pretty sure it seems like the battery is not getting any charge from the alternator, what would cause this?

Sounds like your battery may be dead and/or your alternator may be dead. Test the voltage on the battery with a voltmeter. It should be 12 - 12.5 volts. If you can get the car started, test the voltage on the battery then. It should be 14 - 14.5 volts because the alternator is charging it.

If the battery is anything less than 12, time for a new one. If the alternator isn't keeping the battery charged to at least 14 volts, probably time for a new alternator. If both occur, well, you know where that one is headed.

Whatever you replace, just be sure to watch the voltage on the battery both when the car is off and running. I'd do it for the next week or two. Batteries and alternators often die together.

[shoden]

Check and clean your grounds too. I've been having problems similar to yours for the last few weeks where the car would refuse to start and I'd have to wiggle the ground around to get it to start. Testing with a voltmeter was showing 13.3 volts across the battery terminals (with the car running) and 13.8 volts from the alternator to the ground.

Yesterday, after a thorough cleaning and sanding of the ground point and securely reattaching the ground cable, I got an even 14 volts across the battery terminals and 14.4 volts from the alternator to the ground.

[svxsubaru1]

I just had a new alternator in the car last weekend, and this batery is only 1 week old. The battery is taking a charge ( i have one of those "smart" chargers and so fare its done great all the batteries it said were bad 4 of them all turned out to be bad when i returned them) so i dont think its bad, and hopefully the alternator dident go out yet. What grounds would cause this.

[SVXer95]

I once had an issue with a faulty alternator. The plastic bushing broke off and the positive lead was able to touch the housing of the alternator. When this happened, all the wires coming off the alternator were fried. I couldn't figure out what was going on at first. I put my figner under the wires and they fell apart in my hand. I fixed this with $3 worth of connectors and some good 8 AWG wire that I soldered in place. I got a brand new alternator for free, it was a recent aftermarket replacement.

Check out the wires. You can also pull off your alternator and have it bench tested @ autozone. You might have gotten a bad one when you replaced it.

Also, when you put in the new batt and alternator, was the battery charged? If you use the alternator to charge a dead battery, it WILL fry the rectifier. Another thing - NEVER rev the engine when jumping a dead battery, etc. It will have a similar result.

[svxsubaru1]

The alternator came with a liftime warrentie, on the rebuild. Maybe it was put in wrong, the people that did werent that mechanicle, i would of done it, but they wouldent let me or it would of voided the warrente.

[shoden]

The ground I'm talking about is from the negative battery terminal to the chassis. In the picture the cable curves out of site and then back up to the battery terminal :



I replaced the ground cable because the old one was corroded, and in the process I also changed to a thicker cable. I just used a standard 4 gauge battery cable from Autozone.

In the past 5 months I've had electrical problems caused by poor grounding on several cars...

First, my brother's SVX. Among other things, we replaced the alternator before tracing the problem to a badly corroded ground cable.

Second was my mom's Nissan 200SX. That was a simple case of the clamp on the negative battery terminal not being tight enough.

Third was my other brother with my borrowed Nissan Sentra SE-R. In that case it was the chassis to motor ground that had corroded completely through.

And finally my SVX. I was about to replace my alternator with the one taken from my brother's car, since I'd already replaced the ground cable and that hadn't solved the problem, but I decided to try just cleaning it up good, and that took care of it and saved me an afternoon in the garage.

One of the things I learned early on in working with computers is to check the simple things first. The same applies to cars.

[SVXer95]

Originally posted by svxsubaru1
The alternator came with a liftime warrentie, on the rebuild. Maybe it was put in wrong, the people that did werent that mechanicle, i would of done it, but they wouldent let me or it would of voided the warrente.

In which case, if it is bad, you get a new one for free. Doesn't mean that it isn't bad...

[svxsubaru1]

I know that doesent mean its dead, i had to leave before i could finish the post. I doughts its bad if i could drive home with a completly dead battery. I would need to get some power from some were.