87 cutlass 305 alternator/battery question

[cutlassguy]

did that this time, ill post a pic lol

 

[Mathematic]

i was thinking about it and it shouldn't matter what your negative cables touching as long as its not anything with a positive charge...why would it cause you problems by touching the frame when i just read its a good idea to have a seperate ground for your frame and your engine...sounds crazy man...who told you to put that batt. disconnect on?

The guy who rebuilt my trans told me this. was he wrong? then again, if you look at the pic. The ground wire is cut on the negative cable. Could that be the problem then? IF i disconnect the negative over night, the car starts right up but if i leave it connected the battery drains..

 

[cutlassguy]

your whole car, body, frame, engine included should all be grounded to the battery...sounds more like a short or somethings draining the battery. never in a million years should you have to disconnect your battery every night. do you have a amp that maybe has a freyed wire somewhere? and lights that maybe dont go out? i seen a glovebox light stay on before and you couldnt tell until you opened it, but that kept killing that battery until we checked it out. ask the transmission guy why the frame wouldnt be grounded? not say jus saying, ive never heard of anyone ever saying anything like that let alone telling someone to go and buy a battery disconnect...blows my mind maannn

 

[jmt455]

Mathematic: the battery disconnect is working for you because it isolates the battery and prevents it from being discharged by whatever circuit/load is drawing current.

The disconnect wasn't required because of the ground cable contacting the frame; it was required to isolate the battery from the load.

You should still figure out what is drawing current when the ignition is off. The disconnect is a band-aid but not a cure.

 

[pontiacgp]

to figure out what's drawing current you put a test lite in-between the positive side of the battery and the battery cable....take out the fuses one at a time and when light goes out that's the circuit with the problem

 

[cutlassguy]

good tip pontiacgp!! thanx!!

 

[cutlassguy]

back to my alternator question, i put in a new bosch and the same thing hanppened, so i returned it for yet another alternator which is now a 130 amp and the same thing is happening still. i load tested the battery and it was close to the weak but still in the good by a few needles. the reason i dont think its the gauge is becuz i can kinda control it by whatever i turn on. just idling its at 14, in drive with the lights on about 13, and if i crank the wipers and the fan on full and push in the lighter, its drops to a little under 12 until i shut a few things off again. any ideas what else it could be? ive triied 2 different batteries also, niether of which ive ever had a problem with before this...

 

[Justink]

Redo your ground wires. Motor to firewall motor to frame and battery to motor. Had a buddy with a ol chevy that had the same issue, We redid the grounds and it charges way better now.

 

[cutlassguy]

good idea, thanx man i'll try it.

 

[cutlassguy]

well i cleaned all the grounds, even triied hooking up a jumper cable from the battery to the alternator bracket and its still doing all the same things. i read to try and jump the field terminal to the batt. terminal and still the same thing happens. if i ever get stuck in the dark, while its raining and cold and i need a smoke...im screwed! aside from that the only other thing i can add is on the clip for the alt there is a thicker red power wire and a thin brown field wire that goes into a maybe 10 wire harness that disappears between the top of the transmission and the hump. im only working on it down in the parkade so i cant really jack it 3 feet up and crawl in there to see where they go. i cant figure out why this would start happening all of a sudden tho. thinkin back, maybe my original alt. wasnt even pooched. any new advice would be MUCH appreciated! thx