cadillac sts help

[Aaron Todessa]

okay,

bought this nice cadillac sts (1997) i got it cheaper than advertised cause i noticed the car charges kinda low and raises charge with rpm.

car charged at 12.9 to 13.6 during 25 minute test drive. me being cocky as i am i used it as a bagaining point and got the car for 2 grand.

ha...... so i get home, buy a new battery, (group 78) and new non remanufactured ac delco alternator.

ordered the alternator on ebay, so while waiting i took the old one out (was told it was a "bear" of a job, hours long so i did the removal first, it took all of 45 minutes)

so i have to wait for the new alternator, so i get the old one tested. it tests good they say. so i clean up all the grounds, added a new ground, and put the old one back in. same issue, i get low charging and no charge when lights are on.

so i get the new ac delco alternator, find all the grounds under the hood i can, clean em up, replace ring terminals were needed. and install the new non reman. ac delco alternator.

still get the low charge, no charge message/light on the dash and the car wants to sputter at 11.5 volts. (of course, just telling to let you all know the car is actually not charging, and not just lying to me through the instrument cluster)

so im testing and trying different things. one thing i did notice for sure. was this crazy phenomena

i get in the car, start it up and it starts instantly charging low, no matter how high i rev the RPMs it does not raise the voltage. it just steadily drops.

i put the car in reverse or neutral, same thing, voltage dropping.

i put the car in a forward gear, and it instantly starts charging, and gets up quick, like from 12.5 volts to 13.9-14.2v. it holds steady for a few minutes then drops hard (down to 12.3-12.5) one little tap on the accelorator and it jumps up and starts charging decent at 13.9-14.2 v.

wtf, i thought i could fix a good buy, or what i though was a good buy. but this car is testing me.

i have a lot of stuff to put in this car. i planned on putting in some focal components front and rear as well as a rockford fosgate 360.3 and a p1000.bd ran to a 15" earthquake dbxi, and a rockford p400.4 for the highs. but i cant do jack shit if the car is not even charging enough to drive at night. it

it will stall out if left at idle with lights on, if you dont hit the gas to pick the charge back up when you notice it dropping. in reverse or park it will absolutely not charge at all. its all battery in those gears. ( P, R, N.) any caddy men here can help.

i checked the wires fromt he alt going to the PCM, continuity is there. i have yet to check the wire from the alt to the IPC cluster. cuzz it intells tearing the entire dash out of this SOB. just want to know if there is some thing simple i am overlooking.

read a thread on the iraggi alternators, with there externally regulated user controllable regulator...... leads me to think i can put one of these in and set it and forget it. (i been at this car for a month now, i will need to replace the temp tags before i even get to drive it)

here she is, no rust whatsoever, its is a shame this car will be parted out if i cant get to the bottom of this......

[Baydestrian]

Congrats! I have a 99 Seville STS. I love this forum, but you should really join up http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/forum.php. Trust me, been a member since 2009 and they know these cars.

[Aaron Todessa]

yeah i am a member there, my name there is NJAM, and we are dead in the water as of WTF is up with this thing. i have two threads there, 1997 sts not charging and a audio thread, that is now also dead in the water, as no audio equip. can go in this car as of yet, even if i do get it fixed, i feel it is like a fragile 15 year old labrador retriever, it could go at anytime, these cars are wayyy to sensitive for alot of what i want to do with it. like i am terrified of it now.

[Aaron Todessa]

how did you go about you install in the car, did you replace the head unit, i would imagine so. and when you did did you get the dreaded "sleep mode" issue?

[Baydestrian]

I had a shop do it and no issues, first they did the LOC and that was ok for a few months then I had the headunit replaced. Most the guys on the forum are panzees when it comes to the car audio they think the stock Bose is amazing and anything aftermarket is garbage aswell as believing replacing the stereo will give you tons of electrical issues which is not true at all, you just need the right GMOS adapter and you are fine. I eventually had the front door speakers replaced with my RF comps and stopped running the dash tweets/3.5, still running the rear door 6x9s but I keep 80% of the sound from the front.

Reading thread on the forum now, holy crap that is some fucked shit lol. Hope you get it figured out