Date: 9 Nov 1999 18:33:33 GMT From: johannes.hyvarinennopsamfi (Johannes Hyvärinen) Subject: Re: Alternator problem?
dcross99nopsamsouth.net (Darrell Cross) wrote in <38277927.997C534Fnopsamsouth.net>: >Told a friend that I've had trouble keeping the two-year old DieHard >battery charged in recent days. The 91 Saab 9000 manual says that >the idiot light will come on if the alternator is not delivering >charging power. Friend says that you can't trust idiot lights...in >general, they only come on if the things not working at all, not >just if its under-delivering a charge. The easiest way to verify whether the alternator is working is to measure the voltage between the alternator + wire and ground. Should be about 14.4 volts when the engine is running (slightly above idle rpm if necessary). I think it's more likely that something is consuming power from the battery when you're not driving the car, or the battery is dying despite being relatively new. -- Johannes Hyvärinen johannes.hyvarinennopsamfi