What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

Okay so just took my truck for a test drive after doing the big 3 upgrade. Charges at 14.2 while driving but then drops to 12.9-13.4 at a stop. If I put it in park it jumps back to 14.2. Any ideas? Little confused on the voltage drop

 

I bet your RPMS are about what, 2-300rpms lower when in drive vs park?

THat alt your swapped in is higher output but only at higher rpms, and by rpms I mean the alt's rpms.

If you wanted high output at low rpms you should go with the CS144 swap as that's it's party trick. It'll do around 100amps at our trucks idle speed. Vs about 40 from the stock alt. Your's isn't stock granted but its the same case/housing. So all that is different is the windings are tighter.

 

yeah I woudn't worry too much about it long as you're not laying down massive beads like an axle truss or something. It should be just fine.

 

I think that's pretty normal. The alt is generating more (Amps) current at the higher rpm.

Mine stays around 14.1 at idle and holds pretty solid at 14.7 driving. (but I have the big 3 and Cadillac alt now)

 

Interesting. I guess what is confusing me is that it was holding 14.2 all the time this weekend before swapping the wires.

 

What all is connected directly to the negative post on your battery? Is it more that what this pic shows?

 

There’s 3 things connected to the post. Ground to fender(10 gauge new) ground to block (2 gauge new) and the negative from my winch

 

I'd up your body ground (fender) to at least 4 guage, and run a 4 (or preferably a 2) guage to the frame directly under your battery.

Where did you ground to the block? I ran the shortest possible 2 guage to the upper bolt on the alternator. The shorter the ground wire the better.

 

For your voltage drop at idle, might want to recheck each of the main ground connections. Even a little resistance in any of them can cause a voltage drop.

FWIW, When your battery gets topped off, the voltage output will drop, though 12.9 is a little too low for that. To compare, on cold start mine will be charging at 14.6-14.7 but as the battery starts to get full, that voltage reading from the ECU will drop to 13.9-14.0 typically.

Also, is that Blue Sea fuse block also connected directly to the negative posst on the battery?

 

^^This.

Keep in mind electrons flow - to +. So the better the ground's the better the flow of current.

 

I ran to the stock location and just swapped the block to the firewall with 2 gauge. I’ll go make a 2 gauge for the negative to the fender.

 

Now your and electrician? Damn. Spend some time to get better at halo!

 

Just unbolted the grounds and cleaned them well. No change.

blue sea is grounded to the fender

 

Also it was charging fine at idle at 14.2 volts before the upgrade. But I’ve double checked everything I don’t see any errors

 

sheeeet. Im the best in our bunch! You're the one that needs to practice!

 

So I replaced the 10 gauge to the fender with 2 gauge and now in park it’s 12.7 and 12.5 in drive at idle

 

Fixed two annoying problems - the passenger side dash rattle and the doors groaning.

Dash Rattle: Cut off the tapered end of a rubber floor mat about 36" long, 1/2" thick, and wedge shaped. Jammed it between the window and the dash. Noise is gone!

Doors Groaning: Lubricating the external hinges didn't work so I used some silicon spray with the long tube and sprayed it into the hidden area where the "door check strap" goes (I think that's what it's called anyway). It's probably not how you're supposed to lube it but It worked!

 

Are those readings with the scangauge? Do you have a multimeter? What is it reading at the battery posts?

 

Seems to be a little higher now at 13.6-13.8 on the scan gauge and 13.8-14.02 at the posts

 

So I replaced the wire from the alternator to the fuse box with 2 gauge, should I have run that directly to the battery? And not run anything back to the fuse box?