Alternator?

[amo4387622]

Last week my 90 CV was working fine then one day went out to start the car nothing and the lights were dim. So I jumped started the car and drove it for like five minutes and then shut it off waited 2-3 minutes and tryed to start the car again and nothing. So then I jump started it again and drove it around for at least an hour or more then shut it off waited and it started up fine. Then I left the car over night and went out the next morning to start the car and nothing same problem so I checked my battery and one cell on each side only had about a 25% charge while the others had from 50-100% charge so I went out and got a new battery last thursday and the new battery fixed my problem. But for the last couple of days it is like the battery is not getting charged enough beause when i go to start the car in the morning it is like it just has enough of juice to start the car, Also when you put the blinkers on they are very slow, also when the lights are on at night they are very dim and the dash is also dim. Now is this an alternator problem or the regulator? Then last night I went out to try and check the voltage at the battery while running because it stopped raining but I have a problem my battery is almost dead lights are all very dim and not enough juice to start the car. Now I am leaning to that I have a short somewhere or that my alternator did not charge the battery when I took it to the store yesterday.

[drwolfenstein]

most likely it is the alt. jump start the car again and check voltage at the post, if the battery is dead you should read almost 14 volts, that is normal operation ona working alt. now if you rear 12 or below then alt is not chargeing, probly bad brushes or a bad diode pack, best bet is to just get it replaced. now if you show over 14, shut it off, you are boiling your battery, you may need to get a new battery at this point, even though you jsut got one. i am leaing towards under charging though, also you can uaslly get the guy at the auto parts shop to runa load test on your alt. if he knows what he is doing, a normal reasult would be 13 volts at 90 amps.- but it depends on the out put of your alt. also, if you do replace, ask for the highest output avalible for your car. this way ou have plenty of amps to run any extra stuff you may plug in, car chargers, stereo system, ect.