ihave a 97 V6 camaro. for some reason whenever i turn on my AC, my voltometer drops to about 13, as opposed to its usual 15.5 volts. 13 is rather close to the red zone, and it has on a couple of occasions dropped down in there when i had my AC on. i can have my headlights foglights radio and heater on in the winter and all of those combined dont get it off its usual reading. but i can be driving around and have nothing but my AC on and its still taking all that power. what could be wrong?

 

Could be a weak alternator or battery,or the fans are old and getting hard to spin, thus pulling more power. You really need an clamp on ammeter to check the draw of the varouos components, and to see how many amps the alternator is actually putting out.

 

ok, thanks. i had to change the wires on the alternator a couple of years ago, so that should be no problem.i also have my volts dropalot when im in the rain andmomentarily whenever i hit a big bump in the road, but usually when i hit a bump it only lasts a second. does that help diagnose the problem more?

 

Sounds like the alternator drive belt is slipping, especially when wet. May want to change the belt and tensioner. The belts can slip without squealing.