My 96 protege died on the road Friday night, I ran it until the battery was completely drained 30 miles from home, I quick ran to the auto parts store picked up a decent battery 620 cca,thinking it may have been an internal short. I replaced the battery, drove it home and ran it all day Saturday. Saturday Night while about 30 miles from home the car died again, I jumped it for 1/2 hour, enough juice to get me home. Its been getting me from point A to point B during the day. Tonight (Weds) I finally got a little time and threw a voltage test on the system. With no draw on the battery I got a reading of 13.10 volts, when I start the vehicle it goes up to 13.90 when I start putting a drain on it (headlamps,heater,radio,etc...) it climbs up over 14.00 volts which tells me the alternator/regulator is functional. What could possibly be going on? I thoroughly cleaned the terminal clamps. Any ideas?

mntnman

 

There is only 3 fuses involved for charging:

On the underhood fusebox
"MAIN" which has a BLACK/WHITE wire from the alt
"FUEL INJ" WHITE/GREEN from the alt

On the underdash fusebox:
"METER" which has a WHITE/BLACK from the alt. and hot with the key on

Check all three of these on the back of the alt for power

 

Ok, thanks bkey...

UPDATE

I let the car run in the garage for a 1/2 hour and the voltage started dropping, I remove a couple of brackets that were in the way, shut off all garage lights and on the back of the alternator found where whoever replaced the alt. last cross threaded the positive post on the back of the alternator.... It was glowing red building resistence, hence my voltage drop! I'll pick up a new bolt on post, I'm quite sure this was the problem. Thanks again!

mntnman