offsetfactor

Been having alot of trouble with my car. But one thing i cant figure out. Ill crank it and drive it around and after i turn off the car, it will not crank again. then i have to jump it off. the car has never died on me while driving it.

The battery, alternator, and starter are all new.

Is my battery too small (prolly 500 cranking amps i think) or do i need to rewire my alternator

if so, how do you rewire the alternator? one wire goes to the battery and where does the other one go?

bluegrassz

iTrader: (3)

When you shut it off, does it not crank at all or just slow?
Does it finally restart after setting for a while?

Do you have long tube headers?

And I would suggest at least a 650 battery.
You should also have your battery and alternator checked at your local parts store.

offsetfactor

no it will try its just slow. it doesnt go completely dead.

I just had a problem with the starter and melted my cables, so i replaced everything...

since it tries but is slow, is it just too small a battery? or is my alternator wiring got a draw somewhere?


edit: im the assistant manager at my local parts store lol... im more of an import guy. i want to straight wire the alternator but not sure how it works on a camaro...

the computer at work (i work for O'Reilly Auto Parts) suggested the battery that im using...

bluegrassz

iTrader: (3)

What happend to the starter wires? Why did they fry?

You may have a loose connection. The battery terminals may need cleaned or changed. Or the alternator is not charging.

Check all the connections and have the alternator checked.
You might have a cell going bad in the battery.

1985transmaro

i would bet either whatever caused the wires to fry, or the battery is too weak. i usually as a rule try to go over 700CCA's for a v8, but nothing wrong with 650 like bluegrassz said.

offsetfactor

read the first post. everything is new. like this week new, and i still took everything off and checked it

thats why im asking how to straight wire the alternator, do you know what the two wires coming off of the 2wire plug go?

bluegrassz

iTrader: (3)

If I remember correctly, You will have to have it converted over to a 1-wire. A good alternator shop should be able to do this for you.
Then I think just one wire to the hot battery post.

It been a while, but I think thats right.

While your at it, throw on a LT1 starter.
----------
Here are the instructions for installing a Proform 1-wire that Summit carries.
http://static.summitracing.com/globa...mealternat.pdf

offsetfactor

nah, its my starting system. i just threw the multimeter on it, and its reading 11.5 volts while running. So it must be in the wiring, because the alternator is new.

I put a new alt on, and when it didnt fix the problem, i went ahead and swapped it just incase the new one was bad, and im still having the same problem.


so does anyone know how to rewire this alternator without swapping to a 1 wire alternator

ckgoss

does this alternator have a four pin plug and a battery cable? If it has a four pin regulator plug then one of the pins will be slightly larger then the other three. All you need to do is power the middle small pin with a key feed, or your dash wire and the alternator will work. make sure that the battery cable is going to the battery from the alternator and not back to the starter. this will insure that the power generated from the alternator gets where it needs to. about the slow crank. does this only happen when the motor is hot. If so has the timing been advanced this can cause the engine to turn slow when the engine is hot. if the car starts up when cool every time i would check here. p.s. i manufacture staters and alternators sounds like it may be somewhere else.

offsetfactor

yes, i did notice the mechanic not using the largest 'V' on the timing tab to set my timing but a tube on the timing tab. it was far to the right past the large V.. but when it does crank and i threw the multimeter to it, it was still reading 11.5 volts...?


also the alternator has one powerwire on the back, and a 2 wire plug

ckgoss

the 11.5 volts... are they when you are trying to crank the engine? if so that doesn't sound too low. they should still pull the soleniod in and crank with 10.0 volts. As for the alternator, is the two wires realy going into a four pin plug? if so just give me the colors and i will tell you where they go. this year should have a four pin reg.

offsetfactor

ok i will try, its pouring outside. the 11.5 volts is when the car is running.

i could rule out the charging system completely by cranking it and then pulling the hot wire off the battery right? as long as it stays running? how long would it take to stall out if the alternator wiring is bad

1985transmaro

it would stall almost instantly. on a side note, perhaps check the starter for a parasitic draw. did you put a rebuilt on or new?

ckgoss

you should never ever do this..... it can blow out the engin pcm if you do this. that was goon in the 60's not on anything from the 80's on. they are simple systems. they should read 12.54 volts static(not running full battery) with the system running you should see 14.2 to 14.5 with the engine running.
now there are two main gm systems.
(1) battery wire then a two blade regulator SI system. they have a white plug the reg. one wire is battery sense (red) and a key feed (white/yellow) that turns the alternator on.
(2) newer system is abattery cable and a four pin plug. this doesn't mean that all four are used. if you unplug the reg you will see the pins i discribe. one is larger then the others. if you use this as a reference the the are :
(s) large pin battery sense hot all time key on or off not needed
(i) this is a ignition feed on can turn the alternatr on hot only with key in on or run position.
(l) this is the light terninal and can turn the alt on. all you need is a key feed to this.
(p) this is a tach terminal not needed

offsetfactor

new, twice


seriously though the guy working on it didnt time it by the V on the timing tab, but by the tube on the right of the timing tab. Will that advance the timing and cause this? Cause come to think of it, it has started everytime it was cold

I said "Arent you supposed to time it by getting that mark inside the largest V for 0* and then move the groove to the other v's on the tab to advance it?" and he said "Nah man you shoot your timing light down that tube to the right of the v's, thats where you want it"

but i know different because i see so many threads about it on here. so maybe i just need to reset my timing.

ckgoss

yes the timing can cause this. did you ever brake the starter drive end housing on the starter? this can happen from the same thing.

offsetfactor

well see i got the car with a 350 tbi swap. and i went to swap it to carb. and after i was done it would hardly start, but i had it timed right, i took it to a shop because it was too cold here to work on it, and i noticed the guy did a few things different than i had learned them..

like how to time a car.

i guess ill get back in there and see what he set the timing to. and then set it to where it should be

whats a good timing set? 8*?

ckgoss

the tube is for a magnetic timing probe not the timing light. try the timing befor doing anything else.

offsetfactor

what shoudl i set my timing at

ckgoss

this depends on many things. i would see where you are as compared to the 0 mark. then back it down 2 deg each time and recheck the hot start. if you move too much then you just made more problems. 6-8 deg is conserv. you m,ay find you are at 10 right now.

offsetfactor

alright, figured it out i think. I took a test light to the battery, and it was good, then i took a test light to the back of the alternator, no good

i then turned on the key and checked it again, no good,

and then i checked both wires running to my alternator plug, and they were good


looks like when my valvecover sparked against the power wire, it fried the end of it. so ill replace that and then i should be good to go.