Ok. I put a 12 guage wire from the negative battery to the back of the firewall. Now it has two. I had charged the battery yesterday. The wipers were a little quicker as well the blower. They seemed to slow down somewhat when I turned on the lights. This was with the engine running. I thought instead of dragging the battery back down, I would go ahead and take both the alternator and the battery to autozone. They said the battery was good but low on charge. They said the alternator was good too. They tested the alternator four times.
Only problem with their test is that they can't tell if it's putting out 55 amps. It doesn't even give an amp rate. I will take both to Napa tomorrow and have them test. One thing I noticed when I pulled the original alternator is that the terminals on the plug were pretty corroded. I wonder if that could cause the battery to not charge and all the other problems.
As soon as I am fairly sure it's not the alternator or the battery, I will try cleaning the corrosion off the plug. The negative battery cable looks ok but I have seen them corrode on the inside where you can't see it and cause problems. I suppose I will replace it as well since the terminal has been overstreched on to the battery post.
If these things don't do it, I don't know what to do. This sammy has a.c. and you would think it would have had a higher amp alternator. Is 55 amps sufficient or is it worth upgrading to the petroworks alternator for 110 amps. What advantage would there be if I was going to stay stock with the A.C.? what else could cause these problems? Maybe the alternator test good but is too weak to run lights, wiper, and heater at the same time without bogging the motor down? I have half a mind to upgrade the alternator but $250.00 is a chunk.
