I have a new Yellow top Optima, and a new 200 Amp alternator. I just put the alternator in 2 days ago. Having same problem: Low voltage on my battery gauge and my "check gauges" light is coming on. When i hit the gas a little, my lights get a little brighter, and then the "check gauges" light goes away for a second or two. I also noticed my "OIL" pressure gauge indicates 0 at idle......is that right??? It does go up as you hit the gas--at 2500 RPM's, it only reaches the first line on the gauge....is that right???

I disconnected my battery after the car was started, and the car stayed running, so obviously my new alternator is fine. The voltage on my battery reads 12.2 volts (which i thought would read less because i thought my old alternator was bad)

Got too cold last night to do anymore troubleshooting, but i'm thinking it must be my power wire from my battery to the power block, or to my fuse/relay box(es). I have a new 4 gauge wire going from my Neg to my frame, and a 4 gauge to my new alternator, all connections are tight, and i scraped the paint away for my ground wire.

Is the voltage regulator part of the alternator, or is it somewhere else in the car? Any suggestions/tips?

Thanks.

 

The reg. is in the alt.(part of the alt.). Your volts meter(in the car), should read bat. volts when the ign. is turned on. It should increase to alt. volts(alt. is charging) after start up, slowly decreasing back to normal bat. volts.
Normal bat. volts is 12 to 13 with alt. charging a couple of volts higher, 14 to 15. This should then decrease back to 12 to 13 after the bat. is fully charged.
I would definitely get the alt. checked. With the electonics bad voltage can cause all kinds of weird dash problems.

 

I did some more troubleshooting. The battery does read 13.6 volts at idle, and i'm getting around 13v at my ignition fuses, and when i put the heat on high and the headlights on, the voltage drops maybe .5 volts......(I should be getting between 14 and 15 volts at idle though)

My battery gauge drops into the red/low voltage which can't be right ???

However, i did find that my power steering pulley is very wobbley......which is probably a big part of my problem, so i'm gonna order a pulley from RK sports.........or is there a better power steering pulley out there?