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my battery wont keep a charge. it is a brand new optima. its not the problem it works. alternator has been tested as well and is good. what can be the problem. wiring maybe?

Have you tested the battery?? I bought an Optima for my S10 and it barely made it a year before it crapped out, put ina used Delco battery and has been fine since. Talked to one of out battery distributors at work and they told me Optima's are junk, now I believe them. Sad, best batteries I have ever owned are Walmart batteries. I did have a problem with my surburban a while back which turned out to be the cables were corroded inside the plastic shield.

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RIP R.J.B.

If its not the battery than it's more than likely the voltage regulator if the wiring checks out. But I too had problems with a gel cell battery I was told that the gel cells are hard for the charging system to penetrate and charge it. So the battery was pretty much starting my truck and just running of the alt most of the time. Ive had wiring problems ever since with my truck.

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1975 V8 Luv
1980 Bagged Luv

I had exactly the same problem a little while back...
The voltage regulator (the little metal box in front of the fuzes) went out, and everything worked fine after I swapped it out...
-ret

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1980 4X4 LUV daily driver, as stock as can be.

Might be good to peel back a little of the insulation on battery cable ends near lugs, looking for some nasty green crud. This can make it impossible for cable to carry current and is very common. Temporarily you can clean with wire brush [watch your eyes!] and shoot it with some WD40 but the cable really needs to be replaced, and they're real cheap.

Also make sure you have a clean bare metal ground on battery negative, and that engine ground strap is clean bar metal connection. The voltage regulator case should also have a bare metal ground to chassis.

shouldn't they're be wiring from the voltage regulator or alternator plugged into the positive side of the battery for charging?

The big wire on the alternator goes through the wiring harness, makes a stop at the fuse block to power all the "always on" circuits, goes over the top of the firewall, along the passenger side fender lip behind the coil (under the hood, not outside), and comes out at the battery. It hooks to the battery through a fusible link at the positive terminal.

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95 Isuzu Trooper Daily Driver
86 Isuzu Trooper reliable backup
77 LUV 2wd stock beltway blaster (resting)
79 4x4 LUV project: 2.6L, 5spd, 31s (eventually)

MEPR: Man, my 4x4 makes all other LUVs look good