Alternator.

[bloodyvsunday]

EDIT,

So this is weird..
My car will die from no battery power.

Brand new battery.
Brand new alternator.
Brand new starter.


Took a voletmeter to the B+ of the alternator..
Heres my results.
When car is off.
Its about 12 volts.

But car dies because of no power.


uggggh



also ther eis a very VERY small drain..
when car off, i test the battery, every about 1 minute it will lose some sort of power.
from say..

12.40
(1 minute later)
12.39

But thats not big enough to cause this problem, and ive always had that.
Even before this issue, and with a different battery

[tim eh?]

EDIT,

So this is weird..
My car will die from no battery power.

Brand new battery.
Brand new alternator.
Brand new starter.


Took a voletmeter to the B+ of the alternator..
Heres my results.
When car is off.
Its about 12 volts.

But car dies because of no power.


uggggh



also ther eis a very VERY small drain..
when car off, i test the battery, every about 1 minute it will lose some sort of power.
from say..

12.40
(1 minute later)
12.39

But thats not big enough to cause this problem, and ive always had that.
Even before this issue, and with a different battery

you need to measure voltage with the engine running, does it die right away?

12.40 to 12.39 could also be explained by a drop in temperature, but you might have a drain.

an easy way to measure voltage is obc test #9 you have to unlock your obc first. look under 'information' at this site http://bmwe32.masscom.net/

edit- after reading your other thread.... if you are charging your battery or have just put a new one in i think the engine should run at least for a short while just off the battery no? if it's not doing that i would say you were on the right track and i would suspect something else in the ignition system like the wires maybe.

if you can narrow it down to the charging system i would check the battery and engine to ground cables.... if that's not it you are in the same boat as me and might want to look at shogun's alternator cable replacement here.

http://twrite.org/shogunnew/fixes/electricalpower.html#Replace_charging_cable_betwee n_

[bloodyvsunday]

I just tested the voltage, after charging the battery.
Cars on..
Directly from the back of the alternator B+ it was saying 12v, something..
Went back and checked the battery itself, same exact number.
of course ;]

And checked with lights on, 11v.
Checked with revving up engine, it would just drop.
thats it, drop.
not charging =/

Its a new alternator.
Like maybe the wiring between the alt/starter is wrong??

I connect b+ to the starters terminal.
The one where you connect the jumper terminal (The one under the hood)
Goes.
Put them on the same one.

Before i had it wired that the alternators wire would connect to the ground of the starter?
The terminal that links to the starter motor itself and links to the smallest (30h) on the starter.

Do i have it hooked up right?

[bloodyvsunday]

i bought a remanufactured alternator.

Right now im heading up to autozone to test the battery and alternator, be back soon

[bloodyvsunday]

i jsut had the notion to disconnect the d+ terminal, the diagnostic one.
And it ran perfectly greaat...
even plugged up my sub system.
jumps and remains at 13v.

YESS im hasppy.
so theres a short in that cirutry, ill try to figure it out, but for now at least i can run my car.


taking another look at the circutry of that wire to make sure if i need it.

[632 Regal]

Glad you got it running, do you have a bently manual?

[bloodyvsunday]

ya apparently that d+ aka the diagnostics wire was grounding out ALL the power the alternator.
funny aye?
going through all the wiring diagrams are a pain lol

but hey ill take out the wire sometime in the future.

[632 Regal]

yeah the diagram is hard to follow but it does indicate where the leads go to. i dont personally know but glad you figured it out for now.

[bloodyvsunday]

it goes simply to the diagnostic indicator or whatnot, so i should be fine, drove at least 100 miles so far and no problem.
so yea.
the abs, etc indicators still work and as the diagram goes it just goes into the diagnostics cpu so no biggie. i jus wont know when my batt is low.
so im installing a volt meter gauge.

[tim eh?]

it goes simply to the diagnostic indicator or whatnot, so i should be fine, drove at least 100 miles so far and no problem.
so yea.
the abs, etc indicators still work and as the diagram goes it just goes into the diagnostics cpu so no biggie. i jus wont know when my batt is low.
so im installing a volt meter gauge.

you have a voltmeter already on your obc.

i think the d+ wire is also connected to the charge light in the cluster board.
did the light ever come on? it could be the bulb has burned out and that could be the problem... i think...

[bloodyvsunday]

the whole time ive had my car, the charge light never has ever worked
I think, ive never seen it though, who knows.

The only things that told me my battery is low is that the anti lock brakes would light up, trans program, and engine check.



by the way, i pressed 100 and 1 at the same time, put test 09 and it just goes back to the date/time?
i tried every number, 19 says 0000lock
other than that i think 04 says LA US.
every other number goes back to date/time or whatever i was on before pressing 100 and 1.

if i press 1000 and 1 nothing happens by the way

[bloodyvsunday]

scratch that, got it unlocked lol

EDIT:
And there is no charge light on my instrument?

like nothing that looks like it??
what does it look like

[632 Regal]

you most likely have burned dash bulbs, they are not that hard to replace. I dont know about the charge light causing the problem but my traction control stopped working when the bulb burned out and suddenly worked again after I replaced all the bulbs.


scratch that, got it unlocked lol

EDIT:
And there is no charge light on my instrument?

like nothing that looks like it??
what does it look like

[tim eh?]

what does it look like

ok - it's (true) STORYTIME

A friend at work asked me to look at her car this past week because it was 'shaking and acting funny'... and the 'engine light' was on.

(me) 'which engine light? it says check engine?'

'no, the one that looks like an engine'

'oh, that's probably your charge light'

'oh, well i thought it was the engine light so i figured it needed some oil so i put some in.'

'...oh. did it help?'

'no that's when it started shaking'

'oh... how much oil did you put in?'

'the whole container.'

'big or small?'

'big'

so anyway... i think she got away with it, we changed the oil pdq and then the battery and we are keeping our eyes open for leaks... sheeesh.




so anyway on the e34 tho, the charge light looks like a battery, almost right in the middle of the cluster.

the output at B+ relies on the resistance at D+ and the charge light is on that circuit.

pretty easy to take out the cluster, but that's easy for me to say, i don't have an airbag to deal with.

[bloodyvsunday]

as stupid as this sounds...
I dont have it??
care to show a picture maybe?

and anysteps to taking it out?

EDIT

correction i found it, the far left light.
its never came on, ever.

[tim eh?]

and anysteps to taking it out?


you haven't bookmarked this site yet? ;)

http://bmwe32.masscom.net/sean750/dash_bulbs/changingClusterBulbs.htm

here's some more you won't survive without

http://www.bmwe34.net/Wiki/tiki-index.php?page=HomePage

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/select.do

http://twrite.org/shogunnew/topmenu.html