Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 22:19:46 -0500 From: Charlotte Henson <charlottenopsamme.wi.mit.edu> Subject: Your thoughts appreciated - relationship may hang in the balance
I would love to know whether you think I'm right or my boyfriend is: He has an '88 900t. Something was drawing power off the battery so we installed a battery disconnect under the hood. Thanks to the kind folks here I learned that the fuses for the no longer functional active-restraint seatbelts were located under the back seat, they are there no longer. We started testing to see if that cured the battery drain and the tests were looking good! Then Sunday evening the alternator light came on. The boyfriend thinks that is just a symptom of a whacked-out electrical system, some wires crossing perhaps. I think the alternator's gone bad. After about 15 minutes the light goes off. Today we started the car and the light was on. We drove for about an hour total before the car died entering its driveway - it was beautiful. Here's the question: I think the alternator/regulator is bad and we got as far as we could on the battery. He thinks that the more delicate connection made by the screw in the disconnect has been corroded and the alternator/battery circuit was broken that way. Who's right? I agree that the light going off after it first went on supports his claim, but I believe that if the battery is essentially disconnected then there is no way the car can draw current to run, that is the whole reason to *have* the disconnect. Tomorrow, in the daylight, we will go re-seat the disconnect. We will install the other battery and use our friend's voltmeter to check it both with the car running and off. We will check the voltage across the alternator. Is there anything else I'm forgetting? Thanks for your help, both before and now! -Charlotte
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