First off, I've got the 3G alternator. I took the car for a spin yesterday after honing in on the timing better. The car fired right up and ran well. Only complaint I had was that the battery was draining. This morning I discovered my alternator wasn't charging. After a little more investigation I found that I had not hooked up the "I" terminal trigger wire. I went ahead and ran 1 wire from the "I" terminal to the green w/ red stripe wire that feeds into the voltage regulator connector just to see if there was a difference.
Got in the car, started it, and immediately got loud belt squeel which to me told me that the alternator was charging. I went inside and came back out to try it again and this time left it running. Once it started I tried playing with the throttle and it immediately sputtered and died. I thought this was odd considering how smoothly it has been running.
It got weirder from here. I went back in to try and get it started again but it just kept turning over and never fired up like it had so easily before. I go again to try and start it, turn the key and I get nothing. It won't turn over although all my electrics are working. I also noticed my anmeter gauge was doing wacky things. Like if I put the key into the "ON" or "ACCY" position the needle would sort of throb, moving back and forth. I thought maybe the battery was undercharged so I slapped on the charger and went back in for awhile.
Came back out about an hour later, took off the charger, hooked up the battery and went to try and fire it up again. It fired up pretty easily this time again and was accompanied by belt squeel which went away after a few seconds. However, the idle was at about 2000 RPM. The previous day it was idling right around 800-1000. After a few minutes the idle started to get rough and I had to keep revving it in order to keep it running. Eventually it died. I went to start it again and nothing, it wouldn't turn over. I checked the voltage across the battery and it was in the range of 11.7 volts.
Now, I know that is undercharged, however the voltage across the battery has been lower but it would still crank even it if was slow cranking. In this case it was either cranking strong or not cranking at all. That is why I don't think the battery is the problem.
The only thing I can think of it is that I potentially damaged my starter solenoid. I do have a alot of wires on the positive side. I'm still confused as to how my ignition system after it ran so well yesterday they seem to be separate isolated systems.
Please help, thanks.
Got in the car, started it, and immediately got loud belt squeel which to me told me that the alternator was charging. I went inside and came back out to try it again and this time left it running. Once it started I tried playing with the throttle and it immediately sputtered and died. I thought this was odd considering how smoothly it has been running.
It got weirder from here. I went back in to try and get it started again but it just kept turning over and never fired up like it had so easily before. I go again to try and start it, turn the key and I get nothing. It won't turn over although all my electrics are working. I also noticed my anmeter gauge was doing wacky things. Like if I put the key into the "ON" or "ACCY" position the needle would sort of throb, moving back and forth. I thought maybe the battery was undercharged so I slapped on the charger and went back in for awhile.
Came back out about an hour later, took off the charger, hooked up the battery and went to try and fire it up again. It fired up pretty easily this time again and was accompanied by belt squeel which went away after a few seconds. However, the idle was at about 2000 RPM. The previous day it was idling right around 800-1000. After a few minutes the idle started to get rough and I had to keep revving it in order to keep it running. Eventually it died. I went to start it again and nothing, it wouldn't turn over. I checked the voltage across the battery and it was in the range of 11.7 volts.
Now, I know that is undercharged, however the voltage across the battery has been lower but it would still crank even it if was slow cranking. In this case it was either cranking strong or not cranking at all. That is why I don't think the battery is the problem.
The only thing I can think of it is that I potentially damaged my starter solenoid. I do have a alot of wires on the positive side. I'm still confused as to how my ignition system after it ran so well yesterday they seem to be separate isolated systems.
Please help, thanks.