March 27, 201016 yr Yes I did a search and GD on another post gave a solution to look for bad ground, corroded wires etc.. and will do that when I have time... but... 84 Hatch has been sitting a year, before I parked it I noticed low voltes on guage and figure would figure it out in spring...."spring" ... I dropped in new alt, New battery, reading 14.2 off alt as checked by hand meter.. but gauge is still reading around 8... so A. I can consider this a false reading on the dash gauge? Meaning the out put is 14.2 so delivery to battery and coil should be fine but the information on dash gauge is in error which tells me I can run with this false indication till fix gauge.. or B. is my hand meter telling me the out put is 14.2 from alt. but the gauge is telling me only 8 volts is coursing through the system and destined for dead battery. Or C. I am making this way to complicated.. Update: After an hour of driving and washing off the dust from the years slumber the gauge crept up to 10 volts.. still on the negative side. When I turn on the key the gauge jumps so it is responsive and appears to function... just not reading where I would like it too..... (will dig into tomorrow if time allows.) Edited March 27, 201016 yr by Indrid cold
March 27, 201016 yr It's probably corrosion someplace - the ignition switch could be the culprit as well as the connections on the back of the gauge cluster where the volt gauge bolts to the circuit board. If you meter says 14.2 off the back of the alt you should be fine. The alt feeds directly to the positive side of the fusible links, which feed the battery. You can check the voltage drop across the circuit from the alt to the battery - just put your meter on the positive battery terminal and the back of the alt - if you get more than 0.1 volts then you should address the poor connections between the alt and fusible links or the battery and fusible links, or the battery terminal itself. With the gauge reading low, it likely means that some of your accesories that receive their power through the ignition switched circuits could be getting low voltage. GD
March 27, 201016 yr Author Thanks GD.... I will do the voltage check as you described... I am just hoping to run a while and not mess with cars right now. Edited March 27, 201016 yr by Indrid cold
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