Battery no charge

[winterset]

I messed up!

A few weeks ago, i used water and purple degreaser to clean some grime off the engine. Since then, i used the car and it was fine. The other day, i accidentally left the key on, and drained my optima yellow top.

When the optima is dead, my batterycharger struggles to charge it and temporarily blows the temperature fuse inside the battery charger till the battery has a little juice then it stops overheating. I connected 2 12v battery chargers to charge the battery so i can charge it wirhout overheating the charger. Btw even my new optima blows the charger when it is dead.

Now i get battery no charge. I tried another battery in the car, and it still does the same thing.

Battery volts reads 11.4 volts for both batteries when the key is on. And the volts went to 11 after starting,

and stay at 11 volts even after giving gas. After 10 seconds i get the "no charge message" and cannot see the volts anymore.

Cables are clean up top. Alternator is a delco that is a few years old.

Is there a fusable lnk that i might have blown, or a fuse? I heard there is another fusebox in the engine compartment under the fusebox on the drivers side. I have never been in there before, and need some guidance,

[rgk]

At 11.4 volts your battery is essentially fully discharged. As an AGM battery it may be below the threshold where your alternator can successfully re-charge. optimabatteries.com has tips on how to recover a fully discharge AGM battery.

[rockfangd]

I thought a special charger was require for the dry cell batteries?

You can check the cables to the alternator but likely something is messed up with the regulator

[Phillip Hastings]

It's probably the regulator but you could do a little check to the alternator cables

[Cadillac Jim]

It's possible that you don't have enough charge on your AGM for the regulator or PCM to make sense of what it sees. If it puts, say, 50 Amps into the battery but does not see a voltage rise, it could be setting the OBD code (and thus turning on the MIL) when there is no problem. The issue here is that it may stop trying to charge. I would top off the battery with a slow charger and try again.

After 30+ years with a slow charger that I bought from JC Penney Auto (selenium rectifiers!), I bought a new one from Amazon for $45. It detects and protects against reverse connections, tests and adjusts for 6 Volts or 12 Volts, and also for AGM/Regular and small/auto battery sizes. If your charger can't handle the AGM charge rate, I suggest that you get one of these later model ones that deals with AGM.

As you know, the regulator is a ceramic-case module inside the alternator, so if it is blown, you will need an alternator rebuild kit to get another.

[winterset]

Is the voltage regulator an easy part to purchase by part number? I checked and the only part i found was from standard. I would like to go OEM if i can. Even though the car is in the garage, i have been nable to get under there and check. Is there anything from the top i can check at the fusebox? Btw, for the first time ever, i removed the shroud from the under hood fusebox, and found another hidden fusebox.

[Cadillac Jim]

The top of each fuse has a tiny spot near each end that you can test for voltage. Any fuse that has voltage at one end but not the other is bad. You can't test a fuse that doesn't have voltage to it that way, though.

I believe that AC/Delco services alternators as a unit. I see an AC/Delco voltage regulator for the 140 Amp generator for the 1996 Deville on Rock Auto for $39.

[BodybyFisher]

Do you see how difficult it is for your charger to charge the battery and it struggles?

My guess is that the dead or nearly dead battery put that same load on your alternator and burned out the regulator or a diode. It sounds like your alternator is toast. The regulator is inside the alternator. Is that battery that you have harder to charge than a standard battery?, as someone noted above, it needing a special charger.

Get a good AC Delco rebuilt unit. Its difficult to replace, you will take it out through the wheel well once the covers are off. COVER the radiator with 1/4 inch ply so the alternator does not fall into the radiator and damage it while you are working on it

[KHE]

There is an access panel below the radiator that is retained by two bolts. Once that panel is removed the alternator is easily removed.

[BodybyFisher]

You think its easy Kevin? I actually have not removed one through the wheel well for awhile but I recall a few members having difficulty.

[rockfangd]

It is not a hard job. I have done enough of them.

Right at the bottom of radiator support on the passenger side there is a access plate held in place with 2 bolts. once that is removed it comes out through there.

I remove 1 cooling fan on the passenger side. Helps quite a bit

[BodybyFisher]

It is not a hard job. I have done enough of them.

Right at the bottom of radiator support on the passenger side there is a access plate held in place with 2 bolts. once that is removed it comes out through there.

I remove 1 cooling fan on the passenger side. Helps quite a bit

I don't think I have ever seen that access panel on the bottom, I have seen the filler that travels across the bottom but no access panel, what year?

I remove the RF wheel with the car on a jack stand, take off the wheel well covers and work through there and the bottom and the top.

I have not r&r'd one in a long time but have heard some horror stories on here. If i recall, the shop had difficulty, maybe that was to bump up the repair price like the do with a starter r&r which I think is easy.

I may pull my alternator to clean it up it was oil soaked because the oil cooler line orings on the radiator side were not changed when the radiator was removed and they were dry rotted and cracked. Oil has been leaking a long time, the hoses were caked with dried up and wet oil. Oil blew down the bottom of the right side of the engine, ingested by the alternator which is gummed up to hell and it oil soaked both engine mounts on that side turning them to mush deteriorating them badly they, both need replacement. The alternator cooling heat sinks are clogged really badly from oil and dirt being sucked in, its a mess. In the hot weather alternator cooling will be hampered. All because of 2 $3 dollar orings.

[KHE]

You think its easy Kevin? I actually have not removed one through the wheel well for awhile but I recall a few members having difficulty.

It's not that bad - remove the cooling fans and the access panel plate and it comes out without much of an issue and there is decent access to the mounting bolts. I had to do that job about a year ago on my STS - I think the rectifier blew and the battery wouldn't charge. Oddly, there was no message on the DIC and no idiot light. The rotor (alternator winding) was cooked.

[Cadillac Jim]

If you read the conditions for setting DTCs, they depend on simple voltage checks and timings. That kind of thing is golden if the problem is simple, like an open or short circuit. But complicated things like multiple problems form cascading failures in an alternator and all bets are off.

Once upon a time long, long ago and far, far away, the conventional wisdom was to change the battery, generator, and regulator all together. The regulator is inside the alternator now and we have slip brings and diodes instead of brushes, but there is still some logic there.

As a last try, I would have the AGM battery tested and fully charged, them put back into the car. If that doesn't fix it, then, like the others say above, get a good rebuild AC/Delco alternator, and check all the connections, wires, and grounds on the alternator circuit and main battery cables when you put it

If fully recharging the AGM battery *does* fix the problem, then perhaps the charging demands of a discharged AGM battery are out of the range for which the OEM charging system will work.

If you need an alternator, you should consider the possibility that the charging demands of a discharged AGM battery may damage your alternator.

In any case, I would use a fully charged battery when I put the car back together after changing the alternator.

[rockfangd]

All of the e/k that I have seen from 1992- 2002 so far have had the access.

Take a flashlight and shine it down under the passenger side cooling fan. You will see the tips of the bolts sticking up through the radiator support.

It is at the bottom under the alternator. Wish I had a pic.

Every alternator I have done I remove that plate

[BodybyFisher]

All of the e/k that I have seen from 1992- 2002 so far have had the access.

Take a flashlight and shine it down under the passenger side cooling fan. You will see the tips of the bolts sticking up through the radiator support.

It is at the bottom under the alternator. Wish I had a pic.

Every alternator I have done I remove that plate

Very Interesting, if it wasn't so late Id run out and climb under the car.... speaking of alternators, do you think they can be intermittently flicker prone? The other day after I replaced the headlight relay when it idled the lights pulsed or flickered until the engine was at operating temp, what do you think? Both interior lights and head lights. Voltage was steady at 13.7

[Cadillac Jim]

The alternator brushes can be noisy, and the regulator can be going bad and cause a flicker. A noisy drain somewhere else in the system, such as a headlight bulb going bad, etc. can cause a flicker.

If it doesn't cause a problem, it might be simplest and cheapest to wait for something more definitive to happen.

[BodybyFisher]

It could be that the alternator was so badly oil soaked that it takes time for the brushes to seat and make connection. The problem with that thought is that the voltage was stable at 13.7 volts. I have seen flickering in the past and when you check voltage its ranging up and down wildly. I need to tear it apart and clean it up, but yes, it may need to fail to uncover the problem.

[stsjoe]

I had the same problem with a conventional battery, left it on a trickle charge for 24hrs to limp it to get tested went out and message was gone and never came back. Only thing I could figure was if the battery is low enough the system won't try to charge it to protect the alt. from burning up. hope it's that simple

[barczy01]

Bodybyfisher is correct. A valve cover leak is a slow death for an alternator. The alternators are fairly easy to do and if you need guidance we can help you out. the lower access plate on the lower radiator core support has to come out. take the upper trans line off the radiator and the 2 cooling fans. Soak the 4 access plate bolts with WD40 before you try to loosen them up or you have a risk of the J clips breaking.

[Cadillac Jim]

Well, here is a test: use a trickle-charger to top off the battery, and if the flicker goes away, it may just be normal operation of the voltage regulator for a low battery. If it comes back with normal use of the car (the battery not being too low), then, as BBF says, you need to look at the alternator and perhaps wait for a more definitive symptom.

[KHE]

Bodybyfisher is correct. A valve cover leak is a slow death for an alternator. The alternators are fairly easy to do and if you need guidance we can help you out. the lower access plate on the lower radiator core support has to come out. take the upper trans line off the radiator and the 2 cooling fans. Soak the 4 access plate bolts with WD40 before you try to loosen them up or you have a risk of the J clips breaking.

Why do you remove the upper trans cooler lines from the radiator? It is on the opposite side of the car. I don't recall needing to remove that in order to remove the fans.

[rockfangd]

I dont. Never removed one. Agree about oiling up the blind nuts on the radiator support so they dont break. I think IIRC I only remove one cooling fan. the one on the right

[Logan]

I've never done one...

Anyway....there is a Youtube video....I think it shows the access panel removed.

Why anyone would post this online is beyond me.....but it's a must see....comical...greasy hands....curse words and all..

[rockfangd]

Lol. I though curse words were only common with ford products, Oh wait it is all of them. Isnt it funny that even changing a light bulb can cause cursing