94 Dodge Talon stalls when release gas and won't start

fix the battery and you may have a bad alt ?

wrote

Thanks. I put in a good battery and it starts right up. I notice that the fan switch is stuck on and the fan is running continuously when the car is running. I have disconnected that for now. It idles but the rpm bounces up and down. When the rpm bounces up the volts go to 16V, when the rpm bounces down the voltage goes to 12V.

I raced the motor and the belt squeaks so I added some anti- squeak compound. I charge up the old battery for 2 hours and put it in the car and it starts right up and drivable. The voltage now reads 12 volts at idle and 13 volt steady at 2000 rpm. The alternator is a year old. I now think either the fan killed the battery or the alternator didn't charge. What is the next best approach?

You have a bad alternator ... or at least it sounds like it to me.

Sounds like you need a new alternator or regulator (if the regulator isn't part of the alternator.) 13V is just barely enough to hold steady, you are slowly draining your battery. With the engine running you should be seeing a *minimum* of 13.7V at all times. The idle weirdness may be due to the low voltage and/or the fact that the battery was disconnected. Worry about it only if it's still weird after fixing the voltage problem.

good luck,

nate

Sounds like the regulator in the alternator is no longer 'regulating'. You can have it tested for free at Autozone.

Thanks everyone. Turns out the altenater is dead.

I charge up the battery again and I put a voltmeter on the alernator output and it reads 10 Volts. So I disconnected the battery terminal for a second (like you said since it will not go above 11V no matter how hard I rev) and the engine stalls. The (Autozone) alternator is only a year old, I/m not sure what can destroy it. Maybe the sticky fan switch detroyed the alternator?

I know a guy that went thru 3 auto zone alternators...........after returning the last of the 3 so called "lifetime" alternators due to the shaft locking up, AutoZone gave him is money back for it and said go some place else.......they didn't want to see him any more. they quoted him a policy for refund after 3 warranty's, wont try to help him any more.

they always miss box stuff, miss labeled stuff, and in the case of my 86 lebaron, gave me a 3 port heater control valve ( ports for 3 hoses) and said that it "superseded" my current 4 hose valve. when I asked what they that I should do with the 4th hose, I got dumb stares........

go to another parts place. borrow AutoZone's tools and test instruments but go elsewhere for parts.

actually the bearings seized on the last alternator...........but you get the picture

There are many things that can kill an alternator. The sticky fan switch won't directly kill the alternator. What can happen, though, is the switch gets stuck and runs the battery down ... not enough so the car won't start but enough so the alternator has to work really hard to get the battery voltage back up. That extra work done enough times can kill the alternator.

Also, if the battery is in a state of discharge and will not accept a charge, the alternator will work really hard trying to charge a dead battery ... bye bye alternator.

If you bought a poor quality rebuild, that could do it, too. I used to rebuild alternators for a living. I found that many people didn't want to pay the price for a good quality rebuild (new diodes, new regulator (if applicable), new bearings, etc) because it was expensive and the major parts stores were virtually giving the whole unit away (and a person didn't have to wait for it most of the time).