In the end, the real culprit turned out to be the alternator. I had written:
> I replaced the old > battery today and then checked with the voltmeter to see if the > alternator was charging. Everything seems to be acting normally. Except that the generator light still stayed on. But since the battery read 14.25 @ idle, we concluded that the alternator was charging fine and that the generator light itself wasnt working right. Now I think that the reading must have been due just to the battery being new and fully charged, because a couple days later the reading was down to 11.8 @ idle. I took it to another mechanic and he said at once that I needed a new alternator. So I had him put a new one in and now the whole thing is working fine, The generator light stays off and the readings are what they shd be. John Nasta wrote: > > It may just seem normal because you are running on a healthier battery. > Start it and then disconnect the positive battery cable (don't ground it > against anything). If the engine dies, your alternator is not working. If > the alternator is working, the engine should run with no battery connected > to it. This was one of the things I tried, and surenuff the engine died immediately. But one guy said that you shd NEVER disconnect the pos cable while the engine is running because it can screw up the alternator.
