MIke D Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 Is there any way to manually (computer) adjust the voltage of my 93 STS. I have a modest radio in my car and after frying the last alternator I decided to add a capacitor. Now a few months later it seems like I am having issues again. Running even just the heat and headlights at idle my voltage drops to 11.4 ish. Get rolling and it will slowly come back up to about 13 volts (city driving). If out on the highway with everything on and radio turned up... I will stay around 13 volts. But as soon as I stop... voltage drops and will take a few miles to get back over 12.6 Also my RPM's are around 750 at idle. Any way to manually set it around 1000 to help this? Thanks in advance MD Cop didn't see it, I didn't do it! 93 STS 225,000 Miles 99 STS 111,000 Miles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIke D Posted February 6, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 Thanks Guru... I did the Idle learn on the car today.. I drove it to work and noticed this... A/C or heat on auto, voltage dropped below 12.6 and was real slow to recover and only got up to 12.8 while in 3rd gear with 3000 RPM's. Called my father to figure out what to do.. Turns out the alternator was replace 18 months ago (delco) with a one year warranty... out of luck... But when my dad put a volt meter on the battery it showed .5 volts higher than what was displayed on the dash. Car running and car shut off. He also found the negative battery cable loose but not REAL loose. I have not had problems starting the car at all... So We are thinking this. One: put a second battery in the car to stop this from happening again. Like an Optima deep cycle kind. Two: get a new replacement delco, iF this does not help. Any other thoughts? BESIDES get rid of the radio.... (that's his answer) Thanks again for your help... MD Cop didn't see it, I didn't do it! 93 STS 225,000 Miles 99 STS 111,000 Miles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Posted February 6, 2004 Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 Have you tried installing a higher amp battery? You stock alternator puts out 140 amps, obviously you need amps. On some cars, like GM full size trucks, there is room to add a second alternator, but I don't think they sell kits for the Northstar. Another option is to get a higher ouput alternator, but you'd probably have a hard time finding one. Installing a high amp battery would probably be the only thing you can do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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