Overcharged Battery

[Titleist16]

I have been having some problems with my car lately. A few days ago when I was driving on the freeway my alternator light would spuratically start flickering. I took it to a shop and they tested the alternator and said it was fine. Well it has been a few days and it is getting worse. It flickers almost all the time and my car doesn't seem to be running good. I checked my battery today with my DMM and it showed 13.15V. Isn't that really high? If I remember correctly a fully charged battery should be 12.65V. Is my alternator overcharging? Maybe the voltage regulator is going bad in it?

 

[Anonymous]

Well I doubt its over charging, you probably just checked the surface charge on the battery. Persoanlly, I'd install a amp gauge. The little light doesnt really cut it. It could be the regulator and if you werent getting full voltage to your coil, it could cause it to run bad. But I'd check the connections first, the usual make sure they're clean and tight and if you want di-electric grease wouldnt hurt.

 

[rbohm]

8) 13.15v? is this with the engine running? and even if it isnt, .5v isnt anything to worry about. if you check the system voltage with the engine running, and you get more than 14.5v, THEN you are overcharging.

 

[Titleist16]

Well I just checked my batery with the car running in park idling and it showed 14.6V so it looks like it is overcharging.

 

[Titleist16]

I was just looking at my alternator bracket and noticed that the bottom bracket is cracked in half causing the alternator to lean forward and the belt is a little crooked. Could this be causing my problems?

 

[Titleist16]

I just went and bought a new alternator but I'm not sure if it's the right one. The shop that did my alternator conversion when they put the engine in said they put in a GM alternator but didn't tell me what year. I went to Autozone and the guy gave me a 1975 63 amp alternator for a 6cyl. It looks like the same one that I have but I'm not sure. Does this sound like the right alternator?

 

[Anonymous]

Its completely normal for it to be that high when the car is running, some GM's go as high as 15v, But the mis-aligned belt is a problem, its probably causing the light to flicker. The 63 amp alternator should be fine as long as you arent running alot of A/V stuff... As long as it all hooks up the same, I would "Assume" it should work.

 

[Lazy JW]

I've had GM alternators run over 16 volts. For years and years. Had to switch to Optima batteries to keep them from boiling over.

I'm afraid you wasted money on a new alternator. Fix the bracket and see what happens next. I highly recommend installing a voltmeter.
Joe

 

[JackFish]

The shop that did my alternator conversion when they put the engine in said they put in a GM alternator but didn't tell me what year.

Did they also break the bracket, or is this recent damage?

 

[Titleist16]

No, it broke once before at the weld and I had it re-welded and now it broke again in a different spot, it wasn't the shops fault.