My 98 V70 is having an electrical problem. A few weeks ago it started having difficulty starting so I replaced the battery and everything was fine. Today it started slowely and I thought to myselfthat was strange but drove 2 miles to the gas station. After getting gas the car would not start...just made a clicking sound and all the lights would go off when the key was turned to start. Someone gave me a jump and it ran fine on the way home. It barely turned over at home so I let it run for 15 mins just to see if the battery would charge. Again it ran fine but once turned off it would not start again unless I jumped it.

I have a multimeter and I started testing some things but I have no idea what to look for. Any suggestions would be great. I did a search and did a few things I found like the glove light or the alarm but they were only pulling like 6ma.

Thanks - mike

 

What voltage is the Alt charging at? Also if it seems a little low probe the wire before the positive terminal and see what the difference is.

 

With car off battery, across the electrodes, is reading 12.6v. With car running and revved to 2k rpm meter reads 13.6-13.8.

How do I check for parasitic drain? I have a digital multimeter that measures upto 200mA as well as voltage.

 

You hook the meter inline with the positive or negative terminal. Unhook the battery and connect terminal to meter. Then other probe of meter to battery.

 

Nevermind on my question as I put the meter in series with the neg terminal and I'm only pulling 10 to 20 mA...so I assume that is low. I just cleaned my terminals and cables and now my readings are 13.0 with car off and 14.0 with car on.

I'm charging my battery on a charger right now and I guess I will see how it goes. This is just very strange and if anyone can give some other suggestions that would be great.

 

So I charged the battery and all my readings were good. I took the car to Sears and Salvo Auto Parts for a system check. They both said all my numbers were good and it appeared there was nothing wrong.

Well my wife drove the car for a day and now the battery is down to 12.4 and the alt is putting out 13.5ish.

Given this it appears it's my alternator, right? Is there a way to fix and alternator without taking it off the car or do I just have to suck it up and by a new one? They are expensive and the old purse strings are tight right now.

 

Drive the car for a while and get it good and hot then retest.

 

will it test better or worse hot? just curious. i'll try this tomorrow. thx and stay tuned.

 

Sometimes when the Alt. goes bad it will charge good when cold but then drop off the hotter it gets till almost not charging at all.

 

Is it worth replacing internal pieces or just suck it up and replace the whole thing?

 

Sometimes just replacing the regulator works fine other times an entire replacement is needed.

 

Hey Tech or anyone else for the matter. I bought a new (used acutally) alternator and am installing it right now. Does anyone have any under hood pictures of the 850/v70 1996-1999 that they could post or send me? Just want to make sure everyrthing goes back the way it came out. Thx - mike

email mikeg0305@comcast.net

 

Its not a close up but maybe this will work?

(Note not my car)

 

i really need one taken of the left side. looking down at the power steering pump and the aux belt.

thx - mike

 

These work?

 

PICS are awesome.

NEED HELP

I replaced the alternator with a used one and the readings I am getting are not better than with the old one. The battery was tested and is fine while the alternator is only putting out 12.4 to 13.6 volts. Is there anything else this could be?

 

Reading from the battery or Alt itself?

 

Just to post an update. I replaced the Alternator with a rebuilt one from Napa. The initial readings I got (using my mulitmeter)were 13.4v for battery and 14.0 with car running, which I assume is the alernator.

Problem, today...took car back to NAPA for a test under load and they got 13.3 for battery and only 12.3 for Alternator. What else could this possibly be? I'm losing my mind.

 

The bulb might be burnt out.
Maybe the new Alt. is bad? If the Alt is only putitng out 12.3 then something might be wrong with it.

 

No way I've had three bad alternators. Is there anyway I can test the output of the alternator at the alternator instead of the battery? Maybe I have a bad cable somewhere. Is there any other tests I can do to isolate that?