Charging Issues 94 TSi
 

Hey folks,

I think I may be having charging issues and not seeing the obvious.

A touch of history...bought the car in Dec 04. Had newer (maybe 6 months old) NAPA alternator on it. Drove the car for 4 months (April 05) and lost both the alternator and battery. Replaced alternator with Checker auto lifetime (65amp?) and bought a RedTop Optima battery. Drove in the heat (90*F +) for the couple of months and the alternator died again. I just wrote it off to a crappy china made alternator and the hot temps. I bought a NAPA Lifetime (65 amp?) and it died last weekend in the middle of frikken no-where. Replaced it with another NAPA alternator that is on there now.

Issue...when idleing at 1000RPM it is showing 13.8 volts DC at the B terminal on the alternator. It shows 13.1 at the battery terminals. Turn on highbeam lights and A/C (turns on both fans as you all know) and the battery terminal voltage drops to 12.2 and 12.7 or .8 at the B terminal on the alternator. Rev the motor to about 2k or 2500 RPM and it raises the output volts to about 13.6 at the B terminal on the alternator,and 13.0 to 13.1 on the Battery Terminal.

One thing to ad is I did not have a lower heat shield on the exhaust during these hot months and it was not there during the cooler months when I bought the car. I have replaced it since and hopefully the heat from the big 16g and EVO III exhaust manifold will be less intense. I did not see a heat shield for the alternator in the box of spare parts and goodies. Should there be a heat shield on the altrnator also?

I think the alternators were just getting cooked in the heat...but is this a common occurance with the 1g DSM's or should I be digging for something else to get normal lifetimes out of my alternators?

Thanks and sorry for the long post...just wanted to be thorough! ;) :D