Battery light

85THUNDER

MEMBER
PONTIAC MONTANA

05 pontiac montana 3.4 liter 70k mi, hit in front and smashed battery, new battery, battery light on dash stays on, alternator checked by auto advance checked while on car and running, seems ok,

when first started up sometimes stays in 2nd gear and gages do not work, usually stops after 5 to 8 miles and shifts normally, battery light never goes out,

cleaned main positive connection to fuse module,

what other causes for batter light to stay on?
should I remove the alternator and have it checked out separately?
made donation thru paypal, appreciate any help
thanks

3 Replies

RASMATAZ

MECHANIC
75,992 POSTS

Should I remove the alternator and have it checked do this and comeback recheck connections on the alternator.

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Friday, April 20th, 2007 AT 1:09 AM

85THUNDER

MEMBER
2 POSTS

Would removing the battery lead while the engine is running prove the alternator is working?

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Friday, April 20th, 2007 AT 5:57 AM

RASMATAZ

MECHANIC
75,992 POSTS

Doing that will cause the alternator to burn up-uncontrollable output voltages. Plus I don't believe on that test. Here an example: Lets assume the battery is at 12.8v what would happened if the alternator belt snaps-will the engine continue to run or it will die? The answer will be it will continue to run till it cannot power the ignition coil. You can go a long way without the alternator provided you're using less load perhaps 2hrs at the max before it dies out completely.

Do this get a voltmeter before starting the car-read the battery voltage-record it, Now start the engine run it @ 2K rpm-read the meter again-if the meter goes to 13.5-14.5 the alty is doing its job

Check for power the alty connector coming from the ignition switch

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Friday, April 20th, 2007 AT 6:32 AM