I Think My Alternator Is Dead, Need Advice

[Nozila]

sounds like the solenoid in my starter motor is rooted then?

[Nozila]

does anyone know where the starter motor is located exactly on a r33 gtst. ive looked at the sevice manual but cant seem to find in on there.

[Cubes]

Starter motor is located on the drivers side just below the inlet manifold. It looks like a big electric motor and connects to the bell housing.

[Sumo]

Yep, on the drivers side of the motor facing backwards.

I wouldn't say straight up that its the soleniod on the starter, there are many more things that can go wrong. I know to the untrained eye its going to be hard to see, but as you pulling it off - check the condition of the leads and the tension on the nuts off the soleniod. All the little things you take notice of helps draw a better picture of what may be going on.

One thing before you get carried away pulling out your starter, do a load test on your battery - you may have a faulty cell that you will not notice until you load test. Grab your multimeter and whack it across the battery posts and get someone to start it, the voltage should not drop below 9.5 Volts, if it does there is a possibility you have a crook cell. If it doesn't then its good idea to check voltage drops - if you want me to explain further just ask

Cheers

Sumo

[Bl4cK32]

how can that be? Ive got a brand new Delkor calcium battery in my car, and watching the power fc hand controller shows it dip past 9v very quickly when turning the key over??

I agree about checking the condition of evertything before, and during pulling it off though

[Sumo]

Black32: Im not got to go through the loops of explaining the whole theory, but voltage drop is a big factor.

Where is your Power FC earthed? where does it pick its power up from? How accurate is the voltage meter on it?

The only way is to get an accurate reading is too pull the reading from the terminals on the battery. Otherwise your going through old earth cables, and when it has a starter motor load on it, your going to get an even worse reading. The lug either end of the cables both + and - have voltage drops under load.

So I would bet my left nut that your battery is fine - its just how your PFC is setup.

Cheers

Sumo

[Cubes]

Prior to replacing my earths with big fat suckers the pfc reading was from memory .2-.3v's out.

Since the earths have been replaced the reading is spot on.

[Nozila]

ok, i just went out to perfom the load test on battery and what do you know, its flat. will do it once its fully charged - at the moment it could be an indication that the battery is in fact rooted. although, ive noticed prior to this i would have to have a battery is about 14v for the car to even crank over and when it does it struggles to start. if it doesnt start, it seems as though it is draining the battery everytime i try to start it to the point where if i hold it to the 'start' position all you could hear is the ticking noise that is associated with the starter motor. having said this, when this all started i did get electrical smoke coming form the alternator region so could the alternator be the culprit as it isnt charging the battery like it is suppose to.

[Sumo]

Smoke and electrical wiring usually equals bad karma.

Check for a drain too Nozila if you have seen smoke from the altenator. I doubt it was a diode going poof, but you never know. Its a posibility that the sensing wire has melted into one of the other wires, but without seeing it mate im really clutching at straws. There is that many posibilities.

Cheers

Matt

[sl33ek]

This happened to me once in my old car when I changed my battery, the car wouldnt start and it would only make a clicking noise when I went to start the car.

I called the auto electrcian and he said to try to put the car in neutral and roll it backwards about half a meter and it actually fixed the problem. I dont know what the technical explanation is but give it a go

[Nozila]

well i performed a load test on the battery today. prior to this i have let the battery to recharge overnight, thus making sure its fully charged. once i connected all the terminals up the reading from the battery was 13.5v. cranked the engine and once it started the reading from the battery was 14.5v. i also checked the alternator voltage as this stage and it was giving a reading of 14.5v as well. the voltage on the battery dropped to 13.1v after the engine was shut off. well, i decided to leave it as that for the day. since this morning when i did the test i devided to see if there was any changes in the voltages as to my surprise the battery gave a reading of 12.1v and while it was being cranked over (thanks to my bro) i noticed that there was a considerable voltage drop from 12.v down to 7.9v but picked up to ~14v after the engine was running. now im confused, battery or alternator? maybe both?

[Sumo]

Nozila, Hrmm its a little more complicated then that.

Once you pull a battery straight off the battery charger its going to read a high voltage - till the surface voltage disappears. Once this occurs you will be back down to 12.1 -12.5 odd volts.

Whilst cranking the voltage should not go below 9 volts. Otherwise you can also fu(k your starter (low voltage combined with high current draw). Get a new battery - it does sound a little suspect.

Cheers

Matt

[Sumo]

You still haven't told me if their is an electrical drain..... Get your amp meter out!

My job is to sort out these problems And yes they can give very inconsistant results, which makes it very hard to make a call on which part is not working right.

Cheers

Matt

[Nozila]

thanks for your help sumo. im just going to get a new battery and if the problem persist then at least i know the battery is not at fault, hopefully.

[Nozila]

matt, if your referring to the battery then its currently at 12.4v since having started it yesterday afternoon.

You still haven't told me if their is an electrical drain..... Get your amp meter out!

My job is to sort out these problems And yes they can give very inconsistant results, which makes it very hard to make a call on which part is not working right.

Cheers

Matt

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[Busky2k]

It should be around 12.4-12.6V when the car is off and the battery hasnt been charged in a few hours. Any less than 12V and the battery is pretty dead.