I recently bought a 87 samurai.
Needless to say im in love with it, it goes anywhere I want it to and does anything I want it to.
Well, almost.

The problem is that its always dying.

What happens is, when im driving if I have the lights on, heater, and windshield wipers on.
When I come to a stop, or slow wayy down, it dies.
If I stick it in neutral to coast down a hill, as soon as I let out the clutch it dies.
Also it dies so much that sometimes 4th gear pinned ive watched all the electrical components shut off, but the engines still running and im driving. And suddenly they all come back on as soon as I push the clutch in?

Needless to say, its pretty jacked up. IT EVEN DIES IN 4LO!
I can't even ghost ride the damn thing, and its a real bitch when im trying to go wheeling. Wayyy too much clutch work I have to do.

I hooked up a voltometer to it, its reading that the battery puts out 12 volts like it should and the alternator is almost at 14? or something I think. But that's at idle. When I turn all my stuff on it barely sits under 11.

I have the stock alternator.

I dunno what the deal is, im guessing its the alternator, but I really can't tell if its a wiring issue or something else.

ANY HELP?

It sounds like a bad alternator or grounding issue.  You should be putting out 13.6 volts when running, all though it might drop when at idle.  The vehicle should kick your idle up a bit higher when there is a heavy load to help make sure there is enough power to run everything.

It sounds like a bad alternator or grounding issue.  You should be putting out 13.6 volts when running, all though it might drop when at idle.  The vehicle should kick your idle up a bit higher when there is a heavy load to help make sure there is enough power to run everything.

AGREED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It sounds like a bad alternator or grounding issue.  You should be putting out 13.6 volts when running, all though it might drop when at idle.  The vehicle should kick your idle up a bit higher when there is a heavy load to help make sure there is enough power to run everything.

X 3

It sounds like a bad alternator or grounding issue.  You should be putting out 13.6 volts when running, all though it might drop when at idle.  The vehicle should kick your idle up a bit higher when there is a heavy load to help make sure there is enough power to run everything.

x4

This is a carburetor Samurai, how does the ground issue cause
it to die, other than if it cuts the ignition, but the battery should
supply the power to keep it all working.

Describe how it's dieing, are you on the throttle and it just quits,
or does it die when there is no throttle being added at an idle???

Wild

If it is a grounding issue then he isn't going to have any power to run the vehicle.  It's not a diesel so he still needs a working ignition.

I re-read the first post, and I now see what the others were saying, I
think the engine to battery ground might be going thru the clutch
cable, check for a good solid clean ground from the battery to both
the body and the engine block, if the battery cable at the terminals
is corroded, replace the cables and make all connections tight and bright

Wild

It's still only reading 12 v output, that's too low. I agree with the others about the alt, but there may be 2 seperate issues here. It's still possible for the thing to run with a low alt output, that would explain all the accessories going out but the engine still running. I think wild may have hit on a secondary problem.

The battery looks brand new, it doesnt have the sticker on it for when it was manufactured so I can't say for sure. But no corroded contact points.

And as I said it will immediately die if im parked and throw the lights and heater on. Maybe not if I hold the clutch in and rev it a little. Then they will stay on barely working once I rev it a little and let it idle.

But coming up to stop signs, it will just die and turn off if I stick it in neutral and coast up to the light.

I will check to see if the battery is properly grounded.



BUt the weirdest thing is when im driving 4th gear and the lights have shut off and come back on as soon as I push the clutch in. Just really trippy. And its stumping me hard. I appreciate all the input.

Driving home one day after work, battery almost dead, alternator
not working, the radio blinked and turned off, the lights were off
because they didn't do anything at low voltage but the engine and
the fuel pump kept going, I only had 4 blocks to go when this happened
but I was quite shocked by the events


Battery  cables get corroded down the wire under the insulation, and the
other end on the block must also be in good clean tight condition, I would pull
and replace the cables if there is any doubts about the condition of the wire
in the cables

Wild

Hey thankyou everybody for all the advice, it turns out it was a bad ground like you guys said. It was chewed up and loose. So I fixed that and its running tits.

Well it was until someone just slashed my brand new 33x13.5 super swamper Ltbs. Hella gay, still said swamper on the top of the nobbies