Charging problems

[halflife]

Hello, all.

I wonder if anyone would point me in the correct diagnostic direction please to sort out my charging problems.

Noticed electrical smell some months ago coming from the back. Eventually the car would not charge. On closer inspection the alternator was burnt out. I had a spare in the garage but did not know if it was any good (I wish I had had it checked now but hind sight is a wonderful thing)

I noticed when this alternator was fitted to the car the charge indicator would bounce up and down between say 9 and sometimes as high as 16 volts.

Went to a friends in the car and the radio would power down when i put the indicators on. By the time i got to his house the car would not restart as the battery was flat.

I took that alternator off and took them both to a local reconditioned who told me they were both burnt out and there as very little he could do with them

So I got a reconditioned alternator from ebay with 12 months warranty for £70. Just fitted it but i am fairly sure it is not charging. gauge is sitting at about 9v and drops down when i put the lights on to 7 or 8V.

Strange thing is i do not have a warning indicator on the dash even though i am sure it is not charging.

One further thing i should mention is that one of the wires some how got cut on the 3 pin plug that goes into the alternator so I had to put a new spade connector in it but I am sure It is a good job.

Also by 3 pin plug is a long two piece jobby (it is almost like it has an extension on it for some reason) but I could not get it to go into the new alternator properly unless i took the front end off the connector and just used the shorter back end of it.

Anyway, I was hoping someone could advise on the appropriate diagnostics i should follow?

Thanks in advance

Halflife

[MartG]

Check the voltage across the battery with and without the engine running, using a multimeter. Should be no less than 12V for a properly charged battery without the engine running, and 14.4V with the engine running.

[dopiaza]

Problems with more than one alternator/electrical system could point to a bad engine earth - any problems with starting the car?

I'd be checking for a voltage difference between the engine block and the battery negative and also between the battery positive and the thick terminal on the alternator.

Graham

PS Where are you? Someone may be local who can help...

[Cattwooduk]

Thought i'd stick my own problem I've just noticed in this thread as well
I've noticed the past few weeks that when starting the car from cold in the morning and after work, the voltage meter on the dash is getting a little higher every few days, and today it looked around 16v. I just checked it with a multimeter running at normal idle and it's saying 14.3v which is fine. I'm going to check it ni a couple of hours once it's cold again and see what it's putting out.
My main question is what would be a maximum output ebfore it could start frying stuff like the ecu? Might need to get hold of another alternator
Thanks
~Chris

Also, before I take the alternator off just to check the part number, does anyone know off the top of their head whether it it s a 60 or 70amp version? Just phoned a local place to see what price they can do on a reconditioned unit and they have two types, 60 and 70 amp.
My car is a 1989 t-bar 1.6 NA

[SuperRedMR2]

My volt meter looks higher than normal too. I haven't bothered to check mine yet. If anything happens I'll go to halfords with a bill and blame them.