Question on battery relocation and accuracy of gauges.

[terrets]

Ive got a 91 vr4 mostly stock as of now. I relocated my battery to the trunk using 00 cable. My voltmeter reads about 11.3 or 11.7 idling and I think 12.2 with throttle(cant remember, havent been driving the car). Im curious if this will throw the accuracy off of my stri gauges and how much? Also is it bad for the injectors/ecu/EMU(not in yet) or anything else? Is there anything I can do such as a farad capacitor in the engine bay(dont know if it can be near heat) or under the dash. Also would running another cable help with the voltage drop? Maybe a better alternator? Better ground?

Thanks for the help guys. Loving the new website although I still go to 3si for all the archieved threads. Please dont hate, it still has loads of info. .

[BaadVR4]

Ive got a 91 vr4 mostly stock as of now. I relocated my battery to the trunk using 00 cable. My voltmeter reads about 11.3 or 11.7 idling and I think 12.2 with throttle(cant remember, havent been driving the car). Im curious if this will throw the accuracy off of my stri gauges and how much? Also is it bad for the injectors/ecu/EMU(not in yet) or anything else? Is there anything I can do such as a farad capacitor in the engine bay(dont know if it can be near heat) or under the dash. Also would running another cable help with the voltage drop? Maybe a better alternator? Better ground?

Thanks for the help guys. Loving the new website although I still go to 3si for all the archieved threads. Please dont hate, it still has loads of info. .

I would have the alternator checked. Sounds like it may be broke. Also, did you replace the charging wire with -4 wire? If not, that's a good idea also.

[terrets]

I did not. Do you mean 4 gauge by -4?? I will have the alternator checked. Thanks.

[BaadVR4]

I did not. Do you mean 4 gauge by -4?? I will have the alternator checked. Thanks.

Yes, 4 gauge wire for the wire that runs from the alternator to the fuse box and from the fuse box to the starter lug (which is where the wire actually "connects" to the positive side of the battery).
The issue is primarily voltage drop in the length of cable, especially the cable from the battery positive terminal. A related issue is current carrying capacity of the wiring. The additional voltage drop associated with long cable runs causes higher current which requires larger gauge wire to handle the additional heat generated.

[Austin@STM]

If you turn the car on, then turn on the high beams, defrost on rear window, crank the heat, turn on the radio, what is the voltage. Sounds like you alternator is toast or on its way out. Check all your connections first, might be a poor ground or bad connection somewhere also.

[Atrosity]

Definitely check your ground connections, that was my problem and it caused a lot of issues.

[Patryn]

I would recommend cleaning the ground points as mentioned above. I ran into the same issue, then just sanded down all the ground points wether they looked clean or not, and that solved my voltage issue. Places with paint are obvious, but other areas looked normal, but guess sanding them to a polish did the trick for me.

[MR2]

I got a Gas Torch and soldered my earths to the rail..problem effing solved

then painted over the solder job.

[terrets]

I got a Gas Torch and soldered my earths to the rail..problem effing solved

then painted over the solder job.

Not a bad idea.

I scraped off all the paint where I grounded the battery but I will check any other grounds.

And Austin, Ill check the voltage tomorrow.

Thanks for the ideas guys.

[terrets]

If you turn the car on, then turn on the high beams, defrost on rear window, crank the heat, turn on the radio, what is the voltage. Sounds like you alternator is toast or on its way out. Check all your connections first, might be a poor ground or bad connection somewhere also.

Hey Austin, I did this after my car has been sitting for a while. Voltage is 10 with the car off and with the car on its about 12.2~12.4 but Im not sure if this is because she was idling at ~2k and not the normal idle. I think Im going to fix my clutch hose and drive it again for a month because I just miss it so much. I could have sworn it was under 12 though.....
Are these alternators rebuildable??
Thanks.