ozzy

My battery was not recieving a charge. I replaced the alternator and still get nothing going to the battery and if I charge the battery and start it, It just drains the battery and sputters off. What are the problems I should be looking for. I've got a multimeter, but I am unsure where to pin it out and what kind of ohm readings I should expect where. Thanks in advanced for the help.

LemmieHill

Whats going on fellow NCarolinian. To check resistance in anything you have to isolate the circuit... so that might not be to practical. Have you had the battery checked? If too many of the cells are dead it wont receive or hold a charge and it may not be a charging problem. You can also use your DVOM to check surface discharge. Set it to read actuating current and place the pos. to batt. pos. and then use the neg. to put on the battery's case. the dirtier the case, the more volts you will see read across the meter. Other than that, it sounds like you have either high resistance or an open in the wire from your alternator to the battery. With the car running, you should see 14 volts at the battery. While cranking, it should not fall bellow 9.6. If you test a battery with less than a 75% charge, it will automatically fail any kind of starter system test.

ozzy

I appreciate the insight,however it was my understanding that even if the battery is not there the engine will run solely off alternator power. is this true or should I bank on the battery having an issue?

Also is there a certain ohm level I should check fr at certain wires?

Protan988

People need to stop babying dead batterys. Your alternator charges your battery. Battery powers the car. If the battery wont take a proper charge then you are not getting power to the battery.

LemmieHill

Actually batteries serve a way bigger pupose in modern cars other than supplying power. They act as a buffer for all your cars electronics. If you attempted to run your car off of the altn. alone, you could seriously damage your cars electronic components. That battery absorbs fly back voltage and voltage spikes which otherwise could fry components. Yes, it is true old cars could run solely off the altn. once started but this is not true for newer cars. Also, if your batt is that dead, then there is the possibility that it is using all of the altn's power to attempt to charge the batt rather than sending that voltage elsewhere.