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Need Help: '97 MPV won't charge. Has new battery and alternator, so what next??? TIA !

I accidently hit send before finishing the original post.

Need some help with my MPV.

In a nutshell, the charging system is not working. Hooking a volt meter up to the battery at idle shows about 13-14 volts at first with the voltage slowly decreasing. The voltage drops to about 11.5 volts under any kind of load (headlights, A/C, windshield wipers, etc.).

All fault lights on the dash are normal, except the charging system light comes on when the voltage starts to drop significantly. I have noticed the tachometer will also stop working at this point.

I have seen many posts from others experiencing the exact same thing on a variety of vehicles, but have not seen anyone reply with a solution. I have already tried the following:

  1. New battery.
  2. New alternator.
  3. New battery cables.

I have not yet looked at the coil (or whatever cars use these days) to see if there is a fault there as it was looking like a typical battery/alternator problem up until now.

Any help would be appreciated.

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Reply to
yukoncornel
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Make sure you have 12v at the field wire going to the alt. Some cars that wire is always "hot" and has a wire coming the Batt. other cars it's only hot when the Ign. sw. is in the run position.

Rick

Reply to
thetoolman

You vehicle probably combines the B+ sense wire to the alternator and the tach B+ on the same fuse, or splice. Get a wiring diagram to confirm this. Check the alternator plug for voltage at all terminals that it should be present according to the wiring diagram -- while the discharge is occuring. If voltage at any given terminal is below current battery voltage then search that wire for high resistance.

Toyota MDT in MO

Reply to
Comboverfish

Even though your alternator is new, it might still have a problem ... stranger things have happened.

Reply to
Walter

Surprised that your A/C would drag down the voltage. Is the alt. belt tight? When you 'rev' it, does the voltage increase?

"New", or rebuilt? Wouldn't hurt to have it tested. Stranger things have happened than a freshly rebuilt alternator went out with the same problem the core came in with.

Unless your car quits running, it's be difficult to blame it on the coil.

Reply to
Ryan Underwood

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