Hello,

My old Pontiacs have about bit the dust.

My wife's car is struggling, as the title says. An intermittent battery warning light while driving. An intermittent no crank condition that follows the battery light; however if the car sits for a few hours afterward it will start no problem.

I have not been able to duplicate this problem, it has only happened to her.

I have replaced the original alternator because I believed the diodes in the regulator were failing causing a battery issue however this has done nothing to solve the problem.

With the car running, my DMM shows about 14 volts DC at the battery terminals. With the car running, my DMM shows between 10-30 volts AC at the battery terminals. Are the diodes on my new alternator bad?

I cleaned up the battery tray ground. The bolt did snap off, anyways it is nice and shiny. I cleaned both battery terminals, and the engine block ground as well.

The car still will not crank.

I am also confused by every starting/charging wiring diagram I have found for this car. Every one shows a Purple wire at the starter but every wire at the starter on this car is Red.

How many amps is the fusible link for the big Red charging wire? Cannot find that out as well.

I also tried to start it by shorting the solenoid terminals with a screwdriver. No sparks, no start.

I honestly don't know what the problem is here.




1997 Pontiac Sunfire
1993 Lexus ES300
1982 Kawasaki KZ550 LTD