I have a charging issue enough to where I cant drive the car at all.

I have a autometer volts gauge on the car it reads 8volt which is the min could be less. First thing I thought was alt. so got a new one put it on no dice still 8 volts on guage. So I had a small battary that I was planning to put in so I went ahead and did that so new battary and terminals kind of worked lol I had 12volts now when running and drove the car all day with about 5 differnt starts and then one the sixeth it was night so headlights and all wasnt out maybe 5mins and headlights went dim and gauge read 8volt and I limped the car home as I did the week before when it did it before my car had 14.4volt by my gauge.

AlT. is a mist. I got from work and it tested good so did the old one by the way

BAT. is a Stinger SP680 with 680 cranking amps 14.4 volts cycle and 13.4 floating or something like that

TER. are Memphis Car Audio

And I do not have an UDP yet had the codes ran just had my old EGR codes for the fact I blocked it off

you guys have any Ideas ??

I had problems with this too for a while and I got "good" alternators from aftermarket stores. I ended up just getting and oem one and the problem is gone. Make sure that everything is connected to the alternator because I have also had that problem before too.

well the one that was in it was an AcDelco Reman. the one I bought is a mist. Factory so I dont think thats my problem. also the day this happened last week my car had developed a high idle itll rev to 2500 or 3000 when in nutral or the clutch pressed in then fall to normal Im guessing its just the ECU trying to make up for the low voltage.

Try ohm-ing out your battery cables - possible they're corroded inside. Also check to make sure all your grounds have good contact.

Do you have a DMM or a voltmeter, I wouldn't rely on the gauge to many variables to account for. Measure the voltage at the battery with a known good meter. You should have 13 to 14 volts while the car is running. If not the problem is in the charging circuit. If you do have a good supply of voltage you should check for amperage draw while the car is off, this is commonly refereed to as a parasitic drain test. Simply connect a DMM in series with the battery and set the meter to amps. Do not open any doors or leave any lights on it will blow the fuse in the meter. Most meters only can take 10 amps or so, the amperage draw while the car is off should be less than 1A or 1000mA. Its most likely around 100mA ±50mA depending on any accessories in the vehicle (someone check me on this its been a while).

Just a side note:
Once I had a problem similar to yours. It ended up being the ASD relay had corroded and was still powering items after the key was turned off. Essentially it created a huge voltage leak and powered items up after the key was off. Killed the battery and it seemed like an alt. problem. You can disassemble the factory relay if you do it carefully with a small flat screwdriver and look for corrosion, a new relay can be bought a NAPA and a few modifications can be made to make it fit, its better than paying $50 at the dealer. As for the reason why it corroded, I placed my fuel pressure regulator where the relays originally are and pushed the relays off to the side forgetting about them. It ended up that the relays had slowly shifted upside down and water was able to get into them.

Originally posted by Quadman313
Do you have a DMM or a voltmeter, I wouldn't rely on the gauge to many variables to account for. Measure the voltage at the battery with a known good meter. You should have 13 to 14 volts while the car is running. If not the problem is in the charging circuit. If you do have a good supply of voltage you should check for amperage draw while the car is off, this is commonly refereed to as a parasitic drain test. Simply connect a DMM in series with the battery and set the meter to amps. Do not open any doors or leave any lights on it will blow the fuse in the meter. Most meters only can take 10 amps or so, the amperage draw while the car is off should be less than 1A or 1000mA. Its most likely around 100mA ±50mA depending on any accessories in the vehicle (someone check me on this its been a while). Just a side note: Once I had a problem similar to yours. It ended up being the ASD relay had corroded and was still powering items after the key was turned off. Essentially it created a huge voltage leak and powered items up after the key was off. Killed the battery and it seemed like an alt. problem. You can disassemble the factory relay if you do it carefully with a small flat screwdriver and look for corrosion, a new relay can be bought a NAPA and a few modifications can be made to make it fit, its better than paying $50 at the dealer. As for the reason why it corroded, I placed my fuel pressure regulator where the relays originally are and pushed the relays off to the side forgetting about them. It ended up that the relays had slowly shifted upside down and water was able to get into them.

I have a fluk 87 DMM and it had 12volts when running that was when the car whould start and drive tho

ok went and ohmed some things from bat.+ to alt pos .2 ohms from alt case to my strut tower .2ohms make sure the alt had good ground from bat. to alt fuse .2ohms one side of fuse to other .2ohms fuse right above it lol not sure what it is but checked it it was .5ohms bat. - to ground .1ohms now that one test dont you have to have one side on bat. terminal and other on the wire then slowie disconect them with on moving your leads that or buy one them tools you just turn the knob on

The alt. voltage needs to be around 1V higher than that of the battery (12.6 fully charged). See you need to isolate each system and then attack the system with the problem. And you cant just measure the resistance in a ciricuit and expect it to work like expected. You see the DMM outputs a small voltage though the leads and then measures the voltage in the circuit at the other end (or amperage I cant remember at this time). So if there is just the slightest of a good path the resistance will be low. The best test is a voltage drop. This way you can actually know how much voltage its at each point in the circuit and it is far easier to determine the point at which there is a high resistance due to corrosion or some such. I have a fluke 87 as well its a very powerfull tool, but only to those who know how to use it properly.

So check the voltage at key points in the system, starter, alt, fuse blocks, ect. with the key off you should get 12.6V or so ± a few tenths depending on the circuit. If you find a big drop in voltage you will know where the problem is. Check the grounds if you find voltage on a ground then there is a problem with a connection somewhere.

I would also isolate the entire battery and first see what the bat voltage is.

Then put it back in and connect it (make sure it is fully charged). If you find a large drop in voltage once it is connected then start pulling fuses and or relays one at a time until you see the voltage go back up.

Hope this helps if not find out the items I mentioned and report back.

well there was no voltage drop at the alt, starter, or fuses under the hood well the ones I could check with out pulling I didnt have much time the old lady wants to go eat but ill try and check some more I guess tomarrow and I have all day saturday and sunday anyone close by feel free to come help lol

ended up being the ECU well as far as I can tell anyway I found one on ebay for 20bucks with my same part number put it in and jumped the car and didnt have an issue all day