please help: 95 lesabre charging system problem

[valentinehuang]

Hi,
I have a pretty old 95 lesabre with 172k miles. It cann't charge the battery about one year ago.

I tested the battery at autozone. They say it is o.k. I replaced with a brand new alternator.

Sometimes, it charges. When I use a voltage meter to test, it is at about 14v. But, many other times, it stops charging so the battery dies.

What should I do?

Thank you.

Continue with the above problem:

beside the battery, the temperature alarm also lights on soon after driving.

but it never gave me any problem such as boiled during driving.

what is wrong with my car? any suggestion.

[Bassasasin]

Your charging circuit consists of a small wire to the alternator and a large line to the alternator. The small wire is the control wire that tells the alternator what voltage to maintain..

If the battery is good. Inspect clean the red cables at the battery and the connections at the alternator.
These at the alternator and battery have the history of getting corrosion and fail. The terminal ends even get corrosion where the wire goes into the terminal connector that is attached to the wire. Check them well.

The Temperature alarm is sayin you have a coolant system problem. Most often is the thermostat is not opening. It is a easy part to replace. The other possibility is your radiator is clogged or inefficient and you would need a flush..




Good Luck

[eaglebreath]

check for this.....below the alternator is piece of hose connecting the engine
to the water pump. some lesabres have a plastic fitting in the engine which
has been known to go bad, thus spraying water into your alternator shorting
it out and giving a temp alarm. you might have to remove 1 bolt on the
alternator and swing it up to see this hose fitting........let me know , I'm curious...

[valentinehuang]

Thank you so much for your suggestions. I will work on my car this weekend and let you people know. It is so freezing now.

I will check the wires. Most probably I will buy the positive and negative cable of battery and replace them. I also noticed the short wire pluged into the alternator. I do not how to check whether it works or not. It looks like a control cable with several pins there.

After replace the wire, I will get out one bolt from the two bolt secure the alternator on the engine mount to see whether there is a problem there.

To my understanding, one of bolt is for ground purpose for the alternator, right?

So, I will let you professional know after I made further progress.

I still consider it as a good car.