Not charging light

[Quacker]

Well you know how it is when your retired with nothing to do so today I flushed the cooling system and filled it will antifreeze, I let it run for a real long time to make sure I had a good mix. When I got into the car I could see that the battery light was on but the volt meter says around 13 volts so I put a volt meter on the battery. With the key off voltage is 12.8 with the engine running it says 14.45

Why does the battery light stay on all the time. It's gets lighter and darker when I put on the lights or heater and run the windows up and down but the voltage is always around 14 volts.

I'm starting to think this is the vet from hell, so I need help again.

Thanks

 

[MoeJr]

Most likely causes are a diode bridge gone in the Alternator or possibly a funky voltage regulator. Either way gonna need to have the Alt. rebuilt.

Moe

 

[geekinavette]

I would check for a bad connection between the alt/battery and the instrument panel. If you're seeing 14.45 at the batt with it running then the alternator is doing it's job. Sounds like the voltage at the instrument panel is low. Compare voltages at the alternator, battery, and at the instrument panel with it running...they should all be very close to each other.

Bill

 

[Quacker]

As soon as the grandkids go, I'll go back out there and do some more testing.
Thanks

 

[Quacker]

Well I put the volt meter on a bunch of wires & got over 14 volts every time, now when I put a load on the system lights,heater blower, windows, & ect) the volts drop down to battery voltage. It seems like I have 14 volts untill I put a load on it then it drops like a rock, but the battery light stays on all the time. The battery looks new but the car sat for 5 years so I don't know when it was put in. I'm starting to think it's the regulator thats doing it.

I still don't understand why the light stays on if it's over 14 volts, it must have something to do with the amps and I don't know how to test for that, can I take it to the parts store and check how many amps it puts out?

 

[Yoda]

Check the alt connections very throughly.. esp the brown wire Pull the connector off while the car is idling, My guess it the "Battery Light" will go out!

Tug on the wires going into the connector, MAKE sure they are a solid connection, make sure the contact points are clean, if the light comes on, pull the plug, if the light goes out... Time to pull the alternator and take it to NAPA or auto parts store and have it tested then we go from there

BudD

 

[bradfordsvettes]

there is a little diode set that attaches to the diode bridge this is the most common reason for the light to come on it is refered to as the diode trio they are fairly short money and can be checked with a multi meter not a real big job but one part of it is letting 12volts flow in both directions easy fix good luck steve

 

[Quacker]

Rare81 you are the man

I went out and started the engine, the light come on then I unpluged the connector and the light went away, pluged it back in and the light come back on...I also noticed the when I pluged it back in I could hear the alternator start to whine and cry.

I guess I'm off to Auto Zone in the morning but I will reclean everything again and check the connection just to make sure before I go.

Thanks everyone for all the input you have giving me.

 

[bradfordsvettes]

the trio is inside the alt it is cheaper than a new alt not a bad repair if you want to try it

 

[Quacker]

bradfordsvettes

I'll give it my best shot. If it don't work I'll replace the whole thing and be done with it.

Thanks

 

[Quacker]

Well I took it apart and seen the parts you were talking about but I found a bad bearing also, so for 36.00 I got a rebuilt and everything works fine.
Thanks everyone for all the help, now lets see what else goes bad.

 

[bradfordsvettes]

can not go wrong for the price if it lasts best of luck steve

 

[chevyaddict]

Ok quacker, let me get this straight - you had your batter light going on but nothing wrong with your charging system? My 81 does the same thing - the battery light stays on and the voltmeter doesn't work but the alternator is charging fine. i couldn't find any loose wires so I just thought I was going to have to live with it.

But you replaced your alternator and it fixed the problem???

 

[Quacker]

Hi Chevyaddict

Yes, I did what Rare81 said to do and pulled the wires and the light went out. Then I was going to replace the diode trio like bradfordsvettes said to do but when I took it apart I found more things wrong. So I went to AutoZone and picked up a rebuilt with a lifetime warranty.

I'm sure if you follow the above posts you'll get it fixed.