Personally I would go with the remanufactured, but it's up to you. I have never had a problem with rebuilt parts. Sometimes they are better than new.

 

Have you bought a new battery yet? Everything you have written and tried sounds like when I had a dead battery. I hooked it up and there were more buzzes and flashing lights than an arcade. Charged it, my battery came back, and everything was fine. Sounds like you have a bad battery to me. Even if it's new, it could have a bad cell. Anytime my car sits more than just a few days, I hook up my battery tender. I had an Optima red top last 15 years, no joke.

 

A trickle charger putting out 1.5 amps is going to take FOREVER to charge your battery, if it ever does. What you bought is to keep a fully charged battery from running down when left idle, a battery maintainer, or motorcycle battery charger - it is not meant to put a few hundred amp-hours into a dead automotive battery. You need to get a regular battery charger putting out 8-12 amps minimum, or take the battery out, bring it to a garage or battery place, leave it there all day on a charger, and after it is fully charged, you get it load tested. It doesn't matter when you bought the battery, June, July, or December, it can still be dead from either being faulty or from misuse. If you don't start with a fully charged good battery, you will run around in circles replacing every part at random going nowhere.

 

Only if the battery is totally dead. It should bring a 70% to 90% charged battery up to full charge in 12 to 24 hours.
Slow, trickle charging is the best way to charge a battery.

 

NAPA uses better re builders who use better parts. The parts you got and installed are not good parts. But my main concern is the low voltage at the back of the alternator. That is a direct connection to the battery. It should be the same as the battery. If you can hook a jumper cable to it safely and to the pos side of the battery and see if that fixes it. No matter what the test wire needs to be at least #10 wire. I do not know if there is a fusible llink in the wire. But it should have the same voltage as the battery. And an alternator will not charge without power from the battery to the field. But that wire is what carrys the power to the battery and the system. That may be your whole problem. And it would explain why it worked when tested. You should have battery voltage there even when everything is off. Test that wire back to the battery and find out where it goes dead.

 

Wow, that is it.



When I have a jumper cable ran from my battery to my alternator it makes my voltage on dash jump up to almost 13v from 10. It also makes my alternator work. Voltage on back of alternator without jumper is 3v. Voltage on back of alternator with jumper is 14.25.





Now wtf do I do

I just read something about having to solder something (fusible link) and idk how the hell to do that.


Wish it was my battery or alternator...those are easy...



Anybody know what I should do next?

 

Both battery and alternator tested good earlier... Glad I didn't buy a new one of each

 

Test the wire at points along it until you find where the power starts and ends. If there is a fuseable link you can get a new one. You can solder it in or use crimp connectors. May just be corrosion at the battery end. Follow the wire and you will find the problem.

 

There will be a point where you will find power along the wire and that is where the problem is.

 

Can I run 0gauge wire with a fuse from my alternator to battery? I see others doing that in the "big 3 upgrade"

 

I would not do that. You still have power in the wire somewhere that could cause a fire.

 

The fuseable link is at the starter terminal between the blue wire and the red wire according to my 1998 FSM. Check down there for a wire that changes from blue to red and check it for power where it becomes red. The schematic shows it going from the alt to the starter. I think you will find the problem there. I think 98 and 97 should be the same. Just replace the fuseable link.

 

It really sounds like it's time to take it to a mechanic......

 

Before you replace the fuseable link disconnect the wire from the alt and check for a short to ground in the wire. Or you may just blow the new one.

 

FYI, here's a chart of battery voltages vs. state of charge. A battery down at 10.5 V as the OP said, is DEAD, not 70% or 90% charged, but is DEAD, and may not ever come back with a lowly 1.5 amp trickle charger.


I, for one, can't understand why the OP refuses to accept the fact that his battery is probably no good and is willing to run around in circles chasing after exotic things hoping to stumble on a cure for his problem. None of those will work if the battery is bad and maybe O'Reilly's was in error too. In order to check a battery's status on a load tester, it must be fully charged up first, and the OP's never was, not at a reading of 10.5V when taken off the charger. If you have difficulty appreciating this, then get some professional help and tow the car to a dealer or a mechanic so he can put a new battery in it and then test all of what you are testing. That will be a lot cheaper and faster than continuing to get new parts shotgun style. When you try to solve a problem you start with the obvious and simple first, not things that rarely fail. I'm still betting on the battery and that has to be corrected first before going anywhere else.
Sounds like the alternator is working fine, you said it was tested and it was good, but the battery voltage you read at the battery is low because the battery can't even accept the charge. Are any of these components hot? Are the cable connections to the battery clean and tight?
Seriously, again, either get a proper battery charger, not a maintainer or trickle charger, or bring it somewhere to get it put on a good charger. Then after it is fully charged (if it can be charged) get it load tested. Only after you prove the battery is good should you start looking at something else down the line.

 

Except he found the problem and that's not it.

 

Big 3 upgrade and now I'm running at 13.5v on dash



Alternator is 14.5. Battery is 14.35

 

OK, the battery has a big red wire from the alternator for charging. It goes to the starter first and then to the battery. There is another small red wire that is a feedback to the alternator to detect the voltage. When charging the voltage at the battery and alternator should be about 14.6-14.7 VDC.

Here is the schematic.







Charging System

 

There is a wealth of information, knowledge and experience on this forum but you appear to be intent on ignoring it. As mrmlc and Bud ******* said you really should get it checked by a professional for peace of mind.

 

Very interesting thread.

But no matter what caused this trouble-the battery still seems to be bad. If the battery was disconnected from the C5 and didn't have 12.6 volts with an open ckt..It isn't clear if the OP actually disconnected the battery when charging with the battery charger.

It is just a question if the bad battery was the cause or the result. And so far it seems to be the result of the original problem.

But one should always have a good fully charged battery before trying to trouble shoot electrical issues .