jdm>usdm
05-14-2012, 03:48 PM
Whats up guys. I'm having a hell of a time with this. Hoping someone can provide some helpful info.
The car is a 1990 240 hatch with a SR.
I went to start my car and saw my turbo timer was reading around 11.7V immediately after start up. I had to rev to around 3k rpm before the volts rose at all, and then it read about 13.6-13.7V or so (and yes, I am positive the belt was not slipping). It would normally run around 14.3V at idle, so I thought the drop in voltage was weird. I began to drive it and a little after half an hour of driving I observed the volts steadily dropping, all the way down to the high 11's. By that point, the fuel pump wasn't getting sufficient power and the car was starting to stumble from lack of fuel. I had to pull off the side of the road and my car was pretty much dead.
After getting the car back to my house the next day, I pulled off the old alternator and had it tested. It failed across the boards, so I put on a new one. After installation of the new one, I'm having to rev the engine, once again, to around 3k rpm before the alternator seems to do any recharging. Only then does it read around 13.6-13.7V, just like the old one!
I'm afraid if I drive it like this, it will kill the alternator, which is what I believed happened to the old one. What would cause the alternator to not output the proper voltage? I had the new one tested, and it was outputting around 14.5V, so I know I should be seeing somewhere around that.
Cliff Notes:
-Old alternator died
-New one was put on, outputting less voltage than it should
-Old alternator output same amount of voltage as the new one shortly before it died.
Could there be something completely unrelated to the alternator that could be pulling power while it's running? I still have the stock wiring supporting a walbro 255 pump. Would a solution be to rewire the pump?
Help would be greatly appreciated.
The car is a 1990 240 hatch with a SR.
I went to start my car and saw my turbo timer was reading around 11.7V immediately after start up. I had to rev to around 3k rpm before the volts rose at all, and then it read about 13.6-13.7V or so (and yes, I am positive the belt was not slipping). It would normally run around 14.3V at idle, so I thought the drop in voltage was weird. I began to drive it and a little after half an hour of driving I observed the volts steadily dropping, all the way down to the high 11's. By that point, the fuel pump wasn't getting sufficient power and the car was starting to stumble from lack of fuel. I had to pull off the side of the road and my car was pretty much dead.
After getting the car back to my house the next day, I pulled off the old alternator and had it tested. It failed across the boards, so I put on a new one. After installation of the new one, I'm having to rev the engine, once again, to around 3k rpm before the alternator seems to do any recharging. Only then does it read around 13.6-13.7V, just like the old one!
I'm afraid if I drive it like this, it will kill the alternator, which is what I believed happened to the old one. What would cause the alternator to not output the proper voltage? I had the new one tested, and it was outputting around 14.5V, so I know I should be seeing somewhere around that.
Cliff Notes:
-Old alternator died
-New one was put on, outputting less voltage than it should
-Old alternator output same amount of voltage as the new one shortly before it died.
Could there be something completely unrelated to the alternator that could be pulling power while it's running? I still have the stock wiring supporting a walbro 255 pump. Would a solution be to rewire the pump?
Help would be greatly appreciated.