>I see that the volts are droping down to 12 when the head lights are on.
you don't mention if the engine is running (above idle) or not.
if the engine is off, then this is natural. the headlights are a large load.
if the engine is running above idle, say 2000rpm and the voltage does not
increase to say 13.6v then something is wrong. is it 13.6 v approx with
engine running above idle and headlights off ? if so perhaps the alternator
output is weak and can't produce enough amps for the headlights ? i think you
can take the alternator to a parts store and get it tested for free. advanced
auto parts tested my starter (which actually fixed it by blowing carbon off
brushes) for free.
when the alternator gets spinning it is producing. use a digital volt meter
and clip it right on the battery. volts will be like 12.6 or something with
everything off. turning stuff on other than the engine will drop volts a
little and that is ok. turn everything off and start engine. bring to say
2000 rpm so alternator has full output. note that volts should go to like
13.6. if not, i would 1) swap battery with one from another car (5 min test)
to see if your battery is bad. 2) check fan belt for correct tension (i know
you already did that) 3) check that all wires are correctly and firmly and
cleanly on back of alternator.
if volts do not go up now, then i would turn everything off, remove ground
wire from battery and hook up your digital multimeter in series (one end of
multimeter to neg battery terminal one end of meter to car ground spot. you
should have no current, except maybe for a digital clock memory in stereo ?
in any event it should be in possibly microamps. turn some stuff on and see
the current jump (most meters have a 10A input jack). one item on and off at
a time. things like headlights will suck a lot of amps. if you turn
something like the radio or heater on and it sucks big time amps or you see a
lot of current with nothing on, its just a matter of finding and fixing that
one item. i am sorry i do not know the amp rating for various things, but i
guess you could do this same test on another car to guesstimate.
hope this helps
larry
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