Hi all - Long story short, I was out of the country for 6 months. Came back and the battery was dead. Changed battery a month ago. The volt meter on the car never registers 14V. 90% of the time, it is at 13V except right after starting the first time in a day, at which it read 13.5V (yeah, higher). Hard acceleration doesn't do squat to move the needle. A long drive (30+ miles) is followed by a slightly more hesitation in starting than usual. When the car is off but the key has been inserted, the voltmeter reads sometimes right at 12, sometimes slightly over, sometimes slightly under.

After doing the required search of the forums, I'm still not 100% sure that my alternator is bad, going bad, or something else. The thing that bothers me the most is that the volt meter never, ever registers 14V. Unsure whether it used to do that before I went out of the country or not unfortunately.

Will be doing a road trip from Chicago to Toronto soon in this car and rather not have any issues on the road, so question for the esteemed board: Is the alternator going bad? If so, I'm likley to take it to the Midwest Performance Cars. Any experience with them doing electrical work?

Cheers,
m.

 

So, you haven't been stranded correct?

The battery reads 12V when engine is off and ~13.5V when the engine is running, correct?

Sounds like everything is good to go.

 

Hey, no haven't been stranded but I don't really drive the car that much lately. The volt meter reads 13V most of the time...the 13.5V reading is only after the first start of the day. Shouldn't it read 14V at least the time when accelerating?

BTW, it is a 2001 996 C2.

Thanks

 

The voltmeter should show no change based on engine speed. 13.5 volts is more than enough.