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Volt Gauge Up/down With Rpms

  • Thread starter Thread starter jrp27540
  • Start date Start date Sep 11, 2016
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jrp27540

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#1
  • Sep 11, 2016
  • #1
Troubleshooting a voltage issue with a 1988 LX 5.0 that I bought a few days ago. The volts drop drastically at idle and go up at higher RPMs. The previous owner relocated the battery to the trunk with an exterior kill switch. I have a strong feeling it has something to do with the way he grounded the wires.

The car also has underdrive pulleys on it, but I wouldn't expect that drastic of a drop from and underdrive pulley, would I?

My other question is if a bad ground or ground wire from the starter solenoid, or off the starter itself would cause issues with the charging system?

Thanks
 

stykthyn

I want to measure mine. It doesn't look that tall.
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#2
  • Sep 11, 2016
  • #2
Def a ground issue. I would also lose the under drives. They will hurt your cooling and charging.
@jrichker Has a good diagram to help you with your wiring.
 

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell
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#3
  • Sep 11, 2016
  • #3
Put a multimeter on the battery and get some numbers. Should be close to 14.4v at idle. Less than 12 and you are draining the battery.

If the PO used wire size too small, combined with too small and alt pulley, it could lead to low charge at idle.

Alternators have specific RPMs they need to spin at to make power. Under drive pulleys may reduce this too much. Look into an overdrive alt puller from ASP to speed up the alt, or put stock pullies back on


Sent from my big ass iPhone 6 using Tapatalk
 

mikestang63

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Sep 11, 2016
#4
  • Sep 11, 2016
  • #4
you should use no thinner than 1 gauge wire for the + of a battery relocation and also make sure the ground wire is going to a good frame ground like the quad shock mounting bolt. Also, as others have said, put the stock pulleys back on as U/D pulleys are one of the biggest waste of money and do nothing but cause cooling and charging issues.
 
J

jrp27540

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#5
  • Sep 11, 2016
  • #5
Thanks everyone. I checked the resistance on the PO ground job in the back, and it appeared to be good. The + wire appears to be 1 gauge. Saying that, however, I'm not a fan of where he put the ground. He basically drilled a hole in the side of the sheet metal where the spare tire goes. He grinded the paint off and ran a bolt through it. I think I'm going to move it to the quad shock bolt. I'll also remove the U/D pulleys.
 

jrichker

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jrp27540 said:
Thanks everyone. I checked the resistance on the PO ground job in the back, and it appeared to be good. The + wire appears to be 1 gauge. Saying that, however, I'm not a fan of where he put the ground. He basically drilled a hole in the side of the sheet metal where the spare tire goes. He grinded the paint off and ran a bolt through it. I think I'm going to move it to the quad shock bolt. I'll also remove the U/D pulleys.
Click to expand...
That's as good a place as any; the whole car body is a ground. As long as you use clean, shiny, solid metal on the car body and not some attachment, you are hooked up to ground.

Before you do anything else, remove the alternator and have it bench tested. Most auto parts stores will do this for free.


Rear mounted battery ground wiring. Follow this plan and you will have zero
ground problems.


One 1 gauge or 1/0 gauge wire from battery negative post to a clean shiny spot on the chassis near the battery. Use a 5/16” bolt and bolt it down to make the rear ground. Use a 1 gauge or 1/0 gauge wire from the rear ground bolt to a clean shiny spot on the block.

One 4 gauge wire from the block where you connected the battery ground wire to the chassis ground where the battery was mounted up front. Use a 5/16” bolt and bolt down the 4 gauge engine to chassis ground, make sure that it the metal around the bolt is clean & shiny. This is the alternator power ground.




The computer has a dedicated power ground wire with a cylindrical quick connect (about 2 ½”long by 1” diameter. It comes out of the wiring harness near the ignition coil & starter solenoid (or relay). Be sure to bolt it to the chassis ground in the same place as you bolted the alternator power ground. This is an
absolute don’t overlook it item for EFI cars

Note: The quick disconnect may have fallen victim to damage or removal by a previous owner. However, it is still of utmost importance that the black/green wires have a high quality ground..

Picture courtesy timewarped1972

Crimp or even better, solder the lugs on the all the wire. The local auto stereo shop will have them if the auto parts store doesn't. Use some heat shrink tubing to cover the lugs and make things look nice.


For a battery cut off switch, see http://www.moroso.com/catalog/categorydisplay.asp?catcode=42225
is the switch http://www.moroso.com/catalog/images/74102_inst.pdf is the installation instructions.
Use the super duty switch and the following tech note to wire it and you will
be good to go.

Use the Moroso plan for the alternator wiring and you risk a fire. The 10 gauge wire they recommend is even less adequate that the stock Mustang wiring.

There is a solution, but it will require about 40' of 18 gauge green wire.

Wire the battery to the two 1/2" posts as shown in the diagram.

The alternator requires a different approach. On the small alternator plug there is a green wire. It is the sense lead that turns the regulator on when the ignition switch is in the run position. Cut the green wire and solder the 40' of green wire between the two pieces. Use some heat shrink to cover the splices. See http://fordfuelinjection.com/?p=7 for some excellent help on soldering & using heat shrink tubing.

Run the green wire back to the Moroso switch and cut off the excess wire. Try to run the green wire inside the car and protect it from getting cut or chaffed. Crimp a 18 gauge ring terminal (red is 18 gauge color code for the crimp on terminals) on each wire. Bolt one ring terminal to each of the 3/16" studs. Do not add the jumper between the 1/2" stud and the 3/16" stud as shown it the
Moroso diagram.

How it works:
The green wire is the ignition on sense feed to the regulator. It supplies a turn on signal to the regulator when the ignition switch is in the Run position. Turn the Moroso switch to off, and the sense voltage goes away, the voltage regulator shuts off and the alternator quits making power.

The fuse & wiring in the following diagram are for a 3G alternator. The stock alternator uses a dark green fuse link wire that connects to 2 black/orange wires. Always leave them connected to the starter solenoid even if you have a 3G alternator.



See the following website for some help from Tmoss (diagram designer) & Stang&2Birds (website host) for help on 88-95 wiring
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/ Everyone should bookmark this site.

Ignition switch wiring
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/IgnitionSwitchWiring.gif

Fuel, alternator, A/C and ignition wiring
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/fuel-alt-links-ign-ac.gif

Complete computer, actuator & sensor wiring diagram for 88-91 Mass Air Mustangs
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/88-91_5.0_EEC_Wiring_Diagram.gif

Vacuum diagram 89-93 Mustangs
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/mustangFoxFordVacuumDiagram.jpg
 
Reactions: RaggedGT
J

jrp27540

Active Member
Sep 9, 2016
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Sep 28, 2016
#7
  • Sep 28, 2016
  • #7
OK, it ended up being the under drives. I put the stock pulleys back on and the charging was back to normal. Thanks for the help everyone!
 
Reactions: Davedacarpainter
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