Alt?

[bve32k]

My battery light is lite up on my car right now and the alt. is charging the battery @ about 10.0 - 10.5 volts. Is this a sign of a bad alt.? Or is there something else that can be causing it to charge at that low of volts?

[Schurkey]

The ONLY way to know FOR SURE is to test the entire starting/charging team--battery, starter, alternator, regulator, and the cables that connect 'em all. This "should" be about 1/2 hour's labor at any shop or auto center.

First Guess: Yeah, the alternator is junk.

Second Guess: A defective battery overloaded the alternator and helped the alternator destroy itself.

[bve32k]

Ok. I took the alt. out and had it tested. The DC volts failed on it.

So I put the old new alt. that passed in and it still doing the same thing. I checked all wiring and no wire is arcing or showing. What other possibilities can it be?

[1988GTU]

That added hot wire you did for the "big 3" could be shorting out from being worn through the coating. OR the signal wire to the alt is pinch/broken not allowing the alt to sense load.

[bve32k]

I pulled the whole wire out and looked at the whole wire.. NO melting at all...

[1988GTU]

Check the other (factory) wire too?

[bve32k]

I checked the end of it..The rest of it is covered..Tomorrow I will have to do that.