Hoping someone can help me figure this out, I'm about to lose my mind. I'll try to explain the best I can (and as short as I can) and maybe I can get this figured out.

Last summer I had problems with the car not wanting to start after I drove it until the starter cooled down. After a lot of troubleshooting and a new alternator, battery and starter, this evening it decided to start doing this again!

Yesterday I bought a new battery and replaced the starter with another from my 327 that I know is good. The car started beautifully, I drove it all around town last night and had no problems starting it back up after turning it off. Today, I drove it to town and turned it off for about 5 minutes and the brand new battery was dead when I went to restart. Had to get a jump from a friend and on my way home the voltage gauge sank so far that my tach stopped working and my headlights and dash lights were barely noticeable. I don't get it? A brand new battery dead in one day? The alternator is brand new (already sent the first one back and exchanged thinking it was that) Any ideas? Any help would be immensely appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

just throwing this out there until someone else chimes in. could there be a battery draw? broken wire somewhere or something causing the battery to drain while the car sits?

 

That's the only thing I can think of Mike. I spent most of all last summer trying to isolate this and couldn't find anything. Had all the fuses pulled and inspected the wires coming from the starter, can't find what's causing this. The Camaro worked perfect yesterday after I switched out the starter and put the new battery in and then today it started fine. It wasn't until after I turned it off in town after driving it for about 10 miles.

 

That's not a parasitic drain, your charging system isn't. Just because the alternator is new, that doesn't mean it's good. I'd get it checked out, or check it yourself with a test meter right at the alternator. Is this a conventional 3-wire alternator setup? The problem might not even be with the alternator, but possibly the exciter wire that tells the voltage regulator to kick in (one of the two wires on the plug) could have a broken connection somewhere down the line. I don't know what color the wires at your plug are, but one is for the gauge/idiot light, the other should have power to it to activate the voltage regulator. I'm willing to bet your alternator isn't being told to charge.

 

Since this happens when you're driving I'd agree it's the charging system. If it wouldn't start after sitting it would be some sort of drain, but since it usually starts after it sits the battery is good and no drains. A good battery can be drawn down to nothing and if left off overnight it will start the car the next day.
My starter hung up on my truck and cranked the engine until the starter went up in smoke, but the next day after a new starter was in I hit the key and it started fine.
If you can get it started you can pull the battery cable while it's running and if it dies it's not charging. A good alternator will run the engine with no battery once it's started.

 

Thanks for the insight guys, I'll re-check the alternator again. Good to see you again Vall! You might not remember this from the end of last summer but I was going through the same thing with this car and thought I had it fixed. I bought a new alternator and the car was doing the same thing so I sent it back and got another new one from Summit. I can pull the battery cable off while the car's running and it won't die. That's what had me thinking it wasn't the alternator. However, I will try that again. The new alternator is a 1 wire and I tried running the wire to the pos battery side (problem was still there) and now I have the wire ran direct to the starter. Problem still there.

 

One wire is a different story then. It should be charging on it's own, and doesn't require an exciter wire to operate. The voltage regulator is self-exciting and activates once the engine's rpm's get past about 2 grand. See what the volt meter tells you it's putting out.

 

I got the car started today (via jumpstart) and pulled the pos cable and it stayed running. I'm positive the alternator is not bad. I re-ran a new wire from the alternator straight to the battery and removed the wire to the starter. What I'm noticing is when the car is running, if I don't turn headlights on or the blower motor the voltage gauge stays put. As soon as the headlights or blower is on the gauge quickly sinks and the lights will fade, but the car stays running. If I turn the car off, it will not restart. Dont know why the battery would not be charging??

 

Not the best with a multimeter, I'd like to test that way and see but not sure what setting to put the meter on. I can hear the regulator kick in when the car is running.

 

Pulling the battery cable is an inaccurate test, it doesn't tell you how much the alternator is putting out. Let's say output is teetering right at 12 volts. That's enough to power the ignition with nothing else on. But once the lights and other accessories are turned on, the battery will be discharging faster than the alternator can charge it.
Oh, did I happen to mention checking alternator output with a test meter?
Not saying the alternator is bad, but it's easier to determine what's bad when we know for sure what's good.