Electrical Problem in 1997 V6

A week ago, I noticed that my voltage was redlining in he positive end. I was driving in downtown traffic, stop and go, which may not mean much but that's what I was doing at the time. I smelled something funny, pulled over immediately and got towed the limit of my 5 miles with Geico. Fortunately, five miles was the parking lot of the friend who sold me my car. We looked at it, talked it over, made a call to my ex (I really didn't want to go THERE but heck, he does know cars).  We noticed that the negative battery cable connector was touching the hood and had worn a spot through the insulation.  So, I stuck masking tape over and drove it three miles to my office, parked it, and took my daughter's car home.  I got covers for the terminals the next day (Sat) and the problem went away.  So, here we are a week later. Had to drive downtown and on my way back, I'm redlining again. This time, I immediately turned on everything electrical and watched the behavior of the gauge. When I engaged the clutch, the gauge went back to normal. Higher RPM's, higher reading.  The alternator is new, and both the battery and the alternator and the connections are god. The a/c gets stronger the higher the RPM's. Any ideas?  The fact that I let Pepboys change my oil two days before this stated is making me feel paranoid.  Funny that everything was fin for the past week then suddenly the problem comes back.

I am not an expert, but I would test the output voltage from the voltage regulator at high rpm.  Or just swap the voltage regulator.  I believe it is a removable part on the alternator.  When the alternator was replaced, did you use your old pulley or a new pulley? My first though is a failing voltage regulator.

Hi, and thanks. On Tuesday, I threw in the towel and towed the car to Collision Craft over on Monument. Other than the $$ I spent, I'm very happy with what they did and the way in which owner of the shop treated me. Very nice, personable, gave me a lift back to the office, etc. Here is the scoop. Besides the battery being dead and the alternator being intermittently dead, according to what I was told, the battery was in BACKWARDS. Any idea how this could have happened without blowing everything up immediately? Since Pepboys was the last to touch the car, I politely (really lol) asked them about it and the manager pulled the videotape of the oil change. The battery wasn't touched. So, that takes me back to the "mechanic" (I have to put this in quotes as angry as I am) who changed the alternator in Jan 2013 then in May 2013. He is the only person who has touched the car since October 2011. Some people say if the battery is in backwards, it will immediately do nasty things. Others say it could cause what happened to me. Second problem is the "mechanic" has the receipt for the alternator and "doesn't have the time to look for it." He bought it from Salvo's. Was to have bought a new one but got rebuilt and didn't tell me until he installed it. That's water under the bridge. But, it was under warranty when it died in May and still under warranty. Salvo's didn't file receipts under phone numbers, etc. until two months ago. So, without receipt, I eat the cost of the part. I bought a new alternator from them and the manager said when the "mechanic" (who he knows cause he buys all of his parts there) finds the receipt, he will refund the difference to me. So, I have $110 for diagnotics, $90 for labor, $119 for the new battery, $115 for the alternator. I needed to replace my battery this year anyway so I'm good with paying that. I even texted the "mechanic" and said, just give me the receipt for the old alternator and I'll be happy. He won't respond. Not that this is all tech talk but... I am close to posting this bozo's name everywhere online AND filing in small claims court JUST BECAUSE.

Sounds like an ugly situation. Good luck recouping some of your cost.

The way I look at it is that if I get the "mechanic" as angry as I am, I've been successful. I even told him last weekend that all I wanted was the receipt. Nothing else. Would have been no money out of his pocket. All he had to do was look through his stuff and find it. His excuse was "While I was in NY last weekend, they re-did my office and I don't know where anything is." Then, "I'm on call today (last Sat) and don't have time." The way I look at this is I work for an attorney. You know what would happen to ME if I told a client "I don't have time" or "They moved my office around and I can't find it." I have no patience. None. Zip. Zilch. Being on call on Saturday is no excuse for Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sun, Mon, Tue OR TODAY. This guy is on Rosedale Avenue between Philadelphia Road and Pulaski in a little industrial garage type enclave. Turn at the mail boxes, go straight back to his door and ask for Damon.

Maybe he had a price markup on the alternator.  He invoices you at the price you pay at Salvos, but he pays 10-30% less since he has a corporate account.   Now he doesn't want you to see that price difference.   Just a guess.  Or maybe he is just a repair man and not a businessman, those are two very different skill sets.

Hmmm....that sounds logical. Our initial conversation was that I was going to pick up the alternator myself and take it to him. He said, Do you want me to get the part for you? I said no at first then yes. So he picks up the part, installs it, then when he tells me how much, he said he bought a rebuilt one. This is the last time I ever let someone buy my parts for me. Makes sense that he is stalling on giving me the receipt. That's okay...well not because making a stand is going to cost me time and energy. Fortunately, District Court is down the street and around the corner and I have the forms here at my desk. May not get squat but I'm going to cost HIM more than ME since I do this for a living anyway. My boss told me once that if I was on the side of the Confederacy, the South would have won the war.

Now back to the plasti dip?

bajabeachie wrote:Hmmm....that sounds logical. Our initial conversation was that I was going to pick up the alternator myself and take it to him.  He said, Do you want me to get the part for you? I said no at first then yes.  So he picks up the part, installs it, then when he tells me how much, he said he bought a rebuilt one.  This is the last time I ever let someone buy my parts for me.  Makes sense that he is stalling on giving me the receipt. That's okay...well not because making a stand is going to cost me time and energy. Fortunately, District Court is down the street and around the corner and I have the forms here at my desk.  May not get squat but I'm going to cost HIM more than ME since I do this for a living anyway. My boss told me once that if I was on the side of the Confederacy, the South would have won the war.

Now back to the plasti dip?  

I will keep in mind not to upset you..

Also good to now the right people when you need them.

and most of all PLEASE DONT PLASTI DIP your wheels.  I know a shop that just spent 12 hours trying to remove it from a set of wheels.  It would not stick everywhere.  But where it did, it was a bear to remove.

I can put you in touch with Susan Kan. She had the wheels dipped, then striped and then power coated

Was going to do the body. :X Spring green if I can custom match this bottle of high end nail polish. <<>>

GIRL FRIEND! calm down, LOL, don't let others get you all out of shape, but by all means go after him LOL