They said my battery, alternator, and starter all failed their "test". Could one issue be causing all the others? or is there really a good chance all threea re going bad?

I think I have a minor electrical issue. Sometimes I get 0 voltage. If I disconnect and reconnect the battery, then I get full voltage. If I run the headlights, stereo, and other lights for 20 minutes, it still starts up fine. Sometimes it won't start or give me ANY power unless I disconnect and reconnect the battery.

Any idea what could be going on? I was thinking power cable corrosion or bad battery connection, but I don't know how a battery connection can just be bad, so maybe I just need to try swapping the battery even though it seems OK?

Because the Alternator also regulates voltage I would start there. It's easy for a place selling parts to get a little carried away.

Clean the terminals on you battery and look over your cables really good..sounds like it's a bad connection at the battery terminals though..also check and clean your ground where it bolts to the engine and the positive cable where it connects to the starter..it may be worth it to just replace your battery cable with new ones if they are original

[This message has been edited by 86 toy (edited 08-06-2011).]

I'd have your Alt check by another store and see if you get the same results. Then read this post for starters. May have some other issues in wiring but grounds could be an issue.
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/043240.html

[This message has been edited by Dodgerunner (edited 08-06-2011).]

quote Originally posted by Gall757: Because the Alternator also regulates voltage I would start there. It's easy for a place selling parts to get a little carried away.

An alternator only controls its own output voltage..it has nothing to do with the battery when the car is not running

quote Originally posted by 86 toy: An alternator only controls its own output voltage..it has nothing to do with the battery when the car is not running

An unregulated alternator can destroy a battery and a starter.......a bad battery or a bad starter will not harm the other components. Good connections are needed in any case, so yes, that would be the first thing to check.

I was having random starting issues with my 86 GT. I wasn't getting fuel sometimes. Weird. I replaced the Fuel Pump, the ICM and then the ECM.
Without any other thing to replace except wiring. I thought I should take someone else on the boards advice and connect a extra ground. I grabbed a old Negative terminal and cable and connected to the negative terminal and back to the intake of the engine. The car started right up and has ran great ever since.

It's always worth a simple wired connection to a solid ground to see if that's it. The cars are getting old and the grounds are not clean anymore.

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86 Fiero 2M4 Silver, and 86 GT

quote Originally posted by Arachnyd: I think I have a minor electrical issue. Sometimes I get 0 voltage. If I disconnect and reconnect the battery, then I get full voltage. If I run the headlights, stereo, and other lights for 20 minutes, it still starts up fine. Sometimes it won't start or give me ANY power unless I disconnect and reconnect the battery. Any idea what could be going on? I was thinking power cable corrosion or bad battery connection, but I don't know how a battery connection can just be bad, so maybe I just need to try swapping the battery even though it seems OK?

Start by taking off your battery cables, wire brushing them clean and re-attaching them.

quote Originally posted by phonedawgz: Start by taking off your battery cables, wire brushing them clean and re-attaching them.

I agree... Also check the other ends of those cables. Sometimes, when moving the cable at the battery end, the "other" end may wiggle a bit and cause intermitent problems; giving a fals diagnosis...

Added the second ground... wowsers. I thought the car needed a tune-up. It doesnt anymore.

$4.99 at autozone for a 19" battery cable with the ends already on it and a new longer bolt for the battery. Nice.

So the answer to your original questions is........

Yes!

Sure, I would Always Liten to the "EXPERTS" at autozone. hahahahaha

Autozone? Seriously, are we talking about replacing fuzzy dice and crome decals?