[p65356sc]

Well here I am again with another gauge question? Well not really..................I put a meter on my battery this morning to see how much juice is being put back in the battery by the alternator with everything on. The number is 13.8.............Is that reasonable? You see my battery has a habit of draining. I know the manual even warns you about leaving the car to sit for any length of time for this very reason. Alarm system or some fool thing. I am evaluating my battery to see if I should go for a new one or not. Now a days $100.00 is a little more precious. I have been told, wives tale or not, that if a battery is full the numbers could be lower than if it is not fully charged. or ? When I trickle charged my battery it did not go to zero on the meter which tells me she is on the way out.
Ross

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[flash]

13.8 is decent - i would load test the battery - many stores will do this for you for free - do not assume that a battery is good, even if it is new - i just had a brand new optima fail on me, and i've had plenty of brand new other ones too

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[mick968]

What should voltmeter gauge on dash read?Lately it has been reading just above 12(driving lights and AC on).Seems like it used to be higher than that.Seems like all the gauges are getting goofy.Temp gauge flucuates more as well and oil pressue gauge is running lower(just below 4 at speed/hot and around 2 at idle(hot).Car is 17 yrs old and right at 100,000 so things will start to happen.Seems to run great(as long as I don't pay any attention to the gauges).

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[banditsc]

Use a volt meter to verfiy the gauges are correct. But it does seem low, could be time for a new voltage regulator on the alternator. Also time to check the cables while your in there...

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[968Oz]

Sorting this stuff out can be a process. I had battery draining problems. Changed battery - still didn't hold charge. Regulator was worn, changed that. Alternator output was OK but still had problems with charge at battery, so changed cables. This was better, but still battery drained 2 months later. Had battery swapped under warranty. Now everything is fine. Lesson: don't assume its one thing. In my case it was regulator and cables and a faulty new battery (old battery may have been OK!)
Cheers
Ian

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[mick968]

Didn't mean to hi-jack this topic from original post but in the last year replaced alternator,battery and 3 weeks ago starter.Like I said,runs great but(I'm a gauge watcher) and they are all over the place.Trying to get my LandRover ready for National Rally in Leadville,Co. and don't want to spend any un-necessary funds on 968.

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[banditsc]

Check your cables then, the grounds probably need a cleanup if they haven't been in a while. The positive/negative cable kit sold by one of the sponsors here is a great upgrade to the electrical system on these cars.

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