This only gets you started but you still have a dead battery and no charging system.
Watch your volt meter
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 96
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From: Spokane Washington
Watch your volt meter
I just had my defective alternator replaced. My car has been stored for the winter and the battery was kept charged with a trickle charger. I ran the car about an hour per month just to keep everything working. I took the car out for its first trip Sunday and got about a mile and noticed the volt meter at 9 volts. I returned home and the next day the car would not start so I put a charger on it then drove to a battery station. The alternator wasn't working at all and had a whine to it. The copper windings were black. The battery is in good shape so the whole thing turned out to cost me $112.
About a month ago, on my hour one hour "exercise" run, I noticed the volt meter at about 17 volts for awhile. I thought at the time that seemed a little high. The technician said that an alternator will sometimes start being irregular when going bad. I learned that it is wise to watch that meter. I would have been stuck 60 miles from home at a remote lake. Gary R
About a month ago, on my hour one hour "exercise" run, I noticed the volt meter at about 17 volts for awhile. I thought at the time that seemed a little high. The technician said that an alternator will sometimes start being irregular when going bad. I learned that it is wise to watch that meter. I would have been stuck 60 miles from home at a remote lake. Gary R
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 96
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From: Spokane Washington
The alternator was $85 and the remaining was labor and tax. I forgot to mention that my volt meter is not real accurate. After the repair, the shop's instrument showed 14.4 volts while my meter showed about 16 volts. I wonder why GM didn't put some marks on the meter between 8 volts and 18 volts? I don't know if all corvettes have that kind of a scale on the meter, but that is what is on my '91. Gary R.
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Joined: Feb 2007
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From: I am the chick magnet. not the corvette.
Hi, i think my alternator may be foul as well. At the battery terminals, I've been getting a reading of 14.5 volts at idle? Should I be worried, and could this be killing my battery? The battery reads 12.73 volts when not running.
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Melting Slicks
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I think an overcharging alternator does more damage then an undercharging one, so it's good you caught that. My experience was that an overcharging was destroys electronics, and undercharging one just leaves me sit.