My car has always had a charging system problem, it was mostly overcharging and boiling the fluid out of the battery. I went through 3 voltage regulators before I got one that seemed to work. That was right at the beginning of winter. I haven't been driving much since its been winter, but about a week ago I was going to crank it up just becuase it hadn't been run in a while. First problem was that the battery was dead, so I boosted it off. Usually when I crank it up, it idles around 2000 rpm until it warms up and the choke turns off. Well, it stayed idleing at 2000 rpms nomatter how long it ran and warmed up. So I took it for a test drive to autozone for a charging system check. On the way, going through town, it wouldn't idle in gear. When I came to a complete stop, I had to put it in neutral, or it would idle sparatically and turn off, but when it was in neutral, it would idle at 2000. So I barely get to autozone and is charging at like 11.2 volts a.k.a. not enough. So the dude connects a wire from the alternator to the solenoid and it goes up to 12 volts. And he says that means there is a short somewhere. He "super"-charged my battery while I was there. I went home (again, barely making it through all the lights without it "choking" down) and thoroughly checked all the wiring. I cleaned all connections and figured that I had fixed the problem, but when I cranked it up this afternoon (having to boost because the battery went dead again), the problem is still there. I managed to get to autozone again, and got the same results. What do I do? Please help
Guess you need a wire diagram and a volt-ohm meter and trace the short.
The wires do change colors a few times but where they do is a connector to break open and check the wire from point to point.