I already change 2 alternator and still the same thing , no charging to the battery.
What else can cause a problem in the charging system of a 1988 toyota camry.
Could be a bad pcm or ecm?
When the car is on the volts go down 12 going down
But once i shut off the its at 12.4
At a cold start it gets better volts
But once hot it goes down.
I check every wire and nothing, no blown fuses nor fusible links connected to the battery
Did the old alternators that didn't charge test good back at the parts store? The reason I ask is because I've seen many reman units test bad right in the store. Check/tighten ground straps. I'll look at the schematic in a bit to see if there's anything the pcm (or other device) can be possible cause (I don't recall there is on that year as it was pretty simple). Oh, fuses? And was voltage checked at alternator?
@hillbilly
Can you email me at cs892277@gmail.com for fast communication
I got a replacment at the auto part store and was check for a good alternator.
But once I put the alternatoe on the car it the voltage would be at around 13.5 at cold start
And once at hot around 12.6-12.9
But the weird part when the cooling fans turn on or i turn the headlights the voltage would to 12.1. Once the headlights or cooling turn off , took about 5 mins or longer to return to 14.2
First i thought it was the ignition ignitier because i touch the wires and the voltage change from 12.2 to 14.1-14.2 volts
But the problem still came back after driving the car a block back to my house.
Sounds like a bad battery from what you just described ... not enough current for alt to charge battery and run headlights. Have the battery load tested at parts store.
edit. check battery ground to chassis... all grounds...
@hillbilly
If i put that battery on another car it does charge.
Its really odd for this kind of thing to happen in a toyota camry 1988. The battery still good and autopart alternator tested good. I even put a junkyard alternator from a toyota celica 1989 3sfe and still no charge to the battery. All of the ground are in tact
Check current with clamp on ammeter leaving the alternator at idle and about 2 k rpm. I'll pull schematics on that exact model and look. If bat and alt good, something is sucking current (short/bad component.
@hillbilly
But what could be short or bad component when the car is at idle with radio off, headlights off, and tailights off
That's what we're trying to figure out. Looked at the schematic... Check 10 amp engine fuse and backside for wiring corrosion etc. Do same for 7.5 amp charge and 7.5 amp ignition fuse. Check main fuses (fused links) coming off battery for corrosion etc. If all this is good, I don't see what else could be the issue other than something stealing all the current from the alt/battery or bad alt and/or battery. Maybe you'll find a bad connection on a fuse contact/wire. Let us know about above checks. And double check engine ground strap, strap at front right by brake abs and front right by radiator.
https://imgur.com/r0CB3SQ
From a 1990 Camry (your generation car model)
@hillbilly
I check the grounds front left and the one by the radiator everything is good. I even check the grounds running to transmissions and all seem fine. Maybe i need to unwire all of the wiring harness and inspect every wire. Its either ecm or some wire that in the wirining harness. The fusiable link to alt80 look perfect and no corrosion.
You got/see the imur image in link above?