All,

I'm having issue with my charging system. The car is a 1989, 245, with 320K on the clock.

This problem has been happening for some time now (about 10 months or so), and at first I was leaning towards a bad alternator so I replaced the regulator. No change in the problem.

The battery shows about 12.10 volts while running and no change during acceleration.

All the contacts are good on all the wires. At the alternator +/- terminals I should be getting 14.4 volts, but I see only a steady voltage of about 12.05 volts.

The positive terminal on the battery to the positive terminal on the alternator reads .016 volts

The negative terminal on the battery to the negative terminal on the alternator reads .014 volts

The negative terminal on the battery to the engine block is well be 2 volts, actually, its well below 1 volt.

So I've been able to rule out I believe everything but the harmonic balancer (i.e. crankshaft pulley).

How would I know if it is indeed slipping? Timing Light? Would this be the symptoms that I'm seeing here? I need to track this down and fix it as it is affecting my gas mileage. Can the alternator not charge a battery if it is say below a certain voltage? If so, would charging the battery up fix this issue?

As always, any and all thoughts are welcomed and encouraged on this topic.

Thanks in advance,

Matt