my 19 year old daughter just purchased her first car. A 99 VW Beetle. We purchased it from a used car dealership we knew little about (First mistake!). The car is still under warrantee and has been "fixed" once already but is still having issues. I'm hoping someone can help us pinpoint where the issue may lie so we can have all our ducks in a row before we go back to these clowns.
The basic issue is the battery is not charging.
**It started when the car died and would only start after being jumped. We measured voltage with car off and on and were only getting about 11V. We replaced the battery and the voltage was then 12.5V when the car was off, but still 12.5 when it was running. We rev'd it up to 2500 RPM and no change so at that point we assumed the alternator.
**The car then had the alternator replaced with these clowns and they put in another new battery. Upon returning home the battery was 12.5V off and on still. 12 hours later the battery reads 11.9 V off and on. Reving the engine to about 2500 RPM only gets the battery to a max of 12.4V.
** In my infinite wisdom (YouTube) I have figured out how to check the alternator output to the battery and the ground. I turned everything on in the car to "tax" the battery and it is dropping like a stone with the car running. I checked the voltage output to the battery from the alternator and got .9V. I checked the negative side to the alternator case/ground and got 2.14V. From the YouTube video I saw I believe both these readings should be around .2-.5 volts for minimum voltage drop across the cables.
Anyways...that's where we stand now. Killing battery #3 while testing. If anyone can direct me to try other things I will. We suspected a possible voltage regulator, but I'm clueless and was lucky to find the alternator. I would need some help in locating (also don't know if the 99 is an internal or external voltage regulatory).
Sorry for the long explanation....but any help appreciated as this dealership is also 2 hours away and driving a dying car back and forth is not an option. We'll be lucky if it makes the trip one way in this state.
The basic issue is the battery is not charging.
**It started when the car died and would only start after being jumped. We measured voltage with car off and on and were only getting about 11V. We replaced the battery and the voltage was then 12.5V when the car was off, but still 12.5 when it was running. We rev'd it up to 2500 RPM and no change so at that point we assumed the alternator.
**The car then had the alternator replaced with these clowns and they put in another new battery. Upon returning home the battery was 12.5V off and on still. 12 hours later the battery reads 11.9 V off and on. Reving the engine to about 2500 RPM only gets the battery to a max of 12.4V.
** In my infinite wisdom (YouTube) I have figured out how to check the alternator output to the battery and the ground. I turned everything on in the car to "tax" the battery and it is dropping like a stone with the car running. I checked the voltage output to the battery from the alternator and got .9V. I checked the negative side to the alternator case/ground and got 2.14V. From the YouTube video I saw I believe both these readings should be around .2-.5 volts for minimum voltage drop across the cables.
Anyways...that's where we stand now. Killing battery #3 while testing. If anyone can direct me to try other things I will. We suspected a possible voltage regulator, but I'm clueless and was lucky to find the alternator. I would need some help in locating (also don't know if the 99 is an internal or external voltage regulatory).
Sorry for the long explanation....but any help appreciated as this dealership is also 2 hours away and driving a dying car back and forth is not an option. We'll be lucky if it makes the trip one way in this state.