Voltage Output Issues

Got an 86 Prelude, nothing special on it, was given to me all it needed to run was a battery, it's pretty much stock, 1.8L dual carb. After fighting through a voltage output problem that was an easier fix than anyone thought, external voltage regulator was out. Got a new one but under driving conditions with my headlights on and heater going, no radio, i am just barely over 12V at the terminals. Does this sound about right or should it be higher? Also, this morning with 11.5V at the terminals the car wouldn't even try to kick over, not even clicking noise.

Most of my experience is with my 66 Mustang, yeah yeah i know what your comments will be but my Mustang can drive circles around my Prelude, but anyway my Mustang puts out well over 12V with everything running. I am just curious so that if i might have a bad ground or loose/fraid wire i can see about tracking it down or if it sounds about right. Any suggestions would be helpful, thanks guys.

You need to be around 14 volts to keep the battery up. Is your battery good?? Always check for loose connections (move wires while watching the meter). The alternator may have a place on the back to ground and make it go to full charge, that will bypass the regulator and verify the alternator. Check a manual.

I tried wiggling the terminal wires but no change, actually my battery died again yesterday, and acutally 14v can damage the system, anything over 13.2v is where your max output at the terminals should be, 14v should be coming out of the alternator but 12.5-13v should be at the terminals under idle. Since it died again i have something wrong and need to check for some bad grounds or something. I have plans on checking the grounds. The battery, alternator and voltage regulator are all new (less than a month old) unless if i just happened to get a bad voltage regulator right out of the box, which is possible. Got any other suggestions other than the ground? I sometimes hear a 'clicking' noise coming from about where the fuel pump is, if that is constantly running that's not gonna help me but i dont know if that would be the culprit. Thanks for the suggestions.

I just changed the radiator fan switch today it was dead and i bypassed it and had it running all the time, better more cooling than needed than none when needed, i know that wasn't helping the situation but i dont know if that would be the culprit though.

First, you got to repair these little problems as you find them, multiple problems can be confusing. If the battery is discharging after the engine is stopped, try this. Remove the positive battery connection and connect a 12 volt test light from the battery to the cable connection. If there is a current drain the light will illuminant in proportation to the current. Disconnect sources until the light goes out.

Already done that, didn't post anything cause i haven't found exactly what the problem is, the power drain does not go through any fuses, and stops draining when the alternator is unplugged. When i plugged a multimeter from the negative terminal of the batterty to the individual plugs on the alternator, one plug reads about what it should the other is half of what it should, we are going to have the ignition switch changed and see what it does. The alternator and battery were changed before the the voltage regulator was, so in theory the alternator could have gotten damaged again. I will post again after this weekend when i should have it all fixed. Thanks for the help.

please post fix, these are though.

I never posted a reply, i forgot. Finally figured it out, the place i got the alternator replaced didn't know that you have to have a Honda rebuilt alternator even though the part # matches, honda adds a Diode Plate to it, so without the plate, it toasted 2 voltage regulators.