Sometimes when I start my car the gauge on the dash(not sure how accurate) will be about half of what it usually reads...in the lower red area. blower is slow, and lights are a little dim, but drives fine. But, once I star driving for a minute, the gauge jumps up to the normal position and everything works fine.
Battery is less than a year old, and the alternator and started are about 2 years old, but less than 7500 miles on them probably. The started does sit VERY close to the headers, but the motor turns over fine in this situation. A little stumped on this. I dont own a voltmeter(I know I know ) i'll get one soon when I have time to go somewhere that sells them.

 

Can you believe Sears has this multimeter for just $30.00?


Sounds as though you have a draw when the car sits unused which is draining the battery. The first thing you want to look at is any amplifiers or anything added directly to the battery.

It seems your battery is discharging somewhat while it sits and is being recharged once the alternator begins to recharge it. Pull all the positive leads from the battery. If you only have one + battery cable but it goes to the positive cluster on the passenger fender, then remove the cables from the positive cluster but leave the cable from the cluster to battery. Work from the cluster instead of the battery.

Set the meter to 10AMPS and be sure to move the leads accordingly. Put the positive lead of the meter to the + battery terminal(or cluster terminal) and the negative meter lead to one of the cables you removed. Be sure that everything is off. You should never read any more than about .020 AMPS or 20mA. Continue checking each of the leads removed from the terminal in this manner. If you do find one that is pulling more, trace where it is going.

Incidentally, my coworker just figured out his alternator was a very large current draw when the engine was off even though it put out current fine while it was running. Internal short to ground.

One last point for people unfamiliar with current meters. The current portion of the meter is protected by a fuse. If you ever try to measure current higher than the meter can, it will blow the fuse. This will render the current portion useless. That is unless you are trying to measure "0" current draw which it will lead you to believe, all is well. Many have been fooled by a bad fuse into thinking they didn't have a draw when they actually did.

 

I may go by sears and pick that one up!
I do have an amp connected to the battery but it is supposed to shut off when the radio is off. it is old so I guess its possible that switch inside the amp has failed.
last night I went to crank it and it had no power at all. I turned the switch for the headlights on so when I would see if a cable was loose they would maybe flicker...anyway, flipped the switch, popped the hood and as I was opening the hood the lights came on. cranked the car up fine like nothing had happened.

 

I pulled the cables(fusible links?) from that junction box, and measured them. Some read .02, but one read 4.58! and even sparked a little with it touched the post on the cluster. Guess I need to find where that goes.

 

ok, may need help tracking this down because I fail at electrical. if this helps it is the black cable that has two wires connected on one terminal. when it isn't connected the chime stops while the key is in the ignition, and the only thing that seems to wor at that time is the horn, headlights, and power locks. need you guys to help point in the right direction to go next.

 

All you did was pull the ground off and check for a draw. To find the one that is doing it, you need to put the ground(s) back on and do the search by any wire that eventually ends up at the battery. As I mentioned before, start with the amp. Also if you moved something and lights started coming on, then there is a loose connection. Be sure to check the ground cable from the engine to the frame on the driver side.

 

I didn't move anything to make the lights come on...they just sort of did on their own while the switch was on. I have today off, so i'll play with it today

 

I disconnected the amp wire from the battery and placed the positive lead on the + battery terminal and the negative lead on the the amp wire. showed 4.43, and the amp shows it is turned off.
just for fun I placed the + and - lead on the respected terminals on the amp while it was turned off(still connected as if it was in use) and showed 4.72.
disconnected the ground cable from the amp and did the same and slowly dropped(almost 2 minutes)to 3.72
probably going about this ALL wrong, I guess I just like poking this thing at stuff

 

faulty multimeter...exchanged it, and now reading fine. Disconnected the amp after driving(in case) batter read 12.1 volts. We'll see what happens later.