Just want to know if my car is running right, without any electrical leakage.

1) Battery with car off 13.4Volts
2) Battery with car running 16volts <<< is that normal to be running to high?

3) Engine off with all electrical lights etc off 0.30 - 0.08 Volts Leaking through the system<<<<Is this normal?

4)When my car is running I have a digital battery terminal (its always fluctuating up and down within a volt eg; 13.1 to 13.5volts)
5) When my car is off the digital battery every now and then comes on showing the voltage and turns off.

Any answers or advice would be great
Thanks
-Ash

1) Battery with car off 13.4Volts
this sounds right.

2) Battery with car running 16volts <<< is that normal to be running to high?

This sounds a bit high, i'm no leccy but I think around 13.5v of charge is right. If it overchrges you will fry things like your battery and computers.

3) Engine off with all electrical lights etc off 0.30 - 0.08 Volts Leaking through the system<<<<Is this normal?

Power loss is probably the smartlock and your digital terminal. These would both need power constantly.

4)When my car is running I have a digital battery terminal (its always fluctuating up and down within a volt eg; 13.1 to 13.5volts)

That sounds about right. You might want to try another multimeter becase it shows 16v and the terminal shows 13.5v, one of these must be wrong.


5) When my car is off the digital battery every now and then comes on showing the voltage and turns off.

Has it always done this or is this a new thing. If it's always done it, i would say it is built like this so there isn't a constant drain on the battery.

Any answers or advice would be great
Thanks
-Ash[/quote]

Sitting voltage for batteries is around 12-13volts.

As for charging 16volts is too high,you can do damage to your ECU by overcharging,also do damage to your battery (acid spewing out).Also will burn out the positive and negative leads (over a long duration of running high charge ouput).Also if you are running a automatic transmission over charging can cause harsh shifting.

For charging volts should be between 13.8v to 14.8v.But also check the charging volts when you have the high beams on the rear demister and your foot on the brake.This will load up the alternator.

I used to own a 96XH i6 ute and when ever i used to accelerate hard the battery light would flash,when i tested the alternator it was charging at 15.1volts and when you gave it a rev the charge rate would increase to 17.5volts.So i soon changed that.

Thanks guys for that,
Why would the altenator be over charging and is there a way to fix it? (other than replacing the whole altenator)..
Cheers
- Ash

What usually happens is that the rectifier plate which has diodes which help control the ouput of charge from the alternator,one of these diodes shorts out and either creates an increase in charge or decrease in charge.

Check to make sure that your power steering pump isnt leaking oil onto the alternator,this will short out the alternator.

When a battery is being charged the voltage is up. When the charge is turned off the battery voltage reduces from the charge voltage to what is called it's "resting voltage". This can take a while, not just a few seconds or minutes. You might just be measuring this reduction?

To test for leaks you need to disconnect one of the battery leads and put your multimeter between the end of the lead and the battery and check for milli-amps. When the engine is off.