95 camry charging problems

[soonerscottou]

I have a 95 camry with 173000 miles on it. It is a 2.2L engine. A couple of days ago I was driving with my lights on. I noticed that when I turned my turn signals on my lights would start to dim. This concerned me so I decided to turn on my bright lights. As soon as that happened my car completely died. I was able to get a jump start and get it back to the house. I put a new battery in and it started just fine. The next morning I went out to start it and nothing happened. So I thought it might have been the alternator, so I replaced it with a new one. Once again car started and after about 20 minutes it would not start again. Then I hooked up a voltmeter to the battery to find out which fuse was drawing on the battery to make it go dead. Come to find out it was the radio fuse. So I pulled that fuse. After charging the battery it started up just fine and continued to for the rest of the day. I thought the problem was solved. I got up the next morning to go to work and it still started. After work (9 hours later) it was dead. I got it jump started and got it back home. I am so lost as to what could be wrong. PLEASE HELP.

[Brian R.]

Keep looking for another drain on the battery. You apparently haven't found them all. Check your drive belt tension.

Check the voltage between terminal "B" of the alternator and ground while the engine is running - should be 13.9 - 15.1 V cold and 13.5 - 14.3 V hot. Too high a voltage is a fault with the voltage regulator.

To check the vr, ground terminal "F" (hole in back of alternator) of the alternator, start the engine and check the voltage of terminal "B" relative to ground. If the voltage is high, replace the vr.

[Cam Ree]

Disconnect the negative battery cable. Install a test lamp between the negative terminal and the negative cable. It will glow. Now, pull one fuse at a time until the light goes out. That last fuse is the circuit that contains the short. Now, if you get all the way to the last fuse, and the light is still glowing as bright as when you started, then you would need to look at the starter solenoid. That is probably the only unfused circuit in the system. It could also be possible that the alternator itself has a slight short to ground causing this problem .

[xasx]

i ahving the same problems and cant figure it out, i have decided to take it to a repair shop now. the battery keeps on crapping out, before it would start up again if i followed the directions in the manual for a flooded battery, not i jump start it, drive, turn it off and it stays off. have to jump start it again.