If I remove the battery negative cable from the battery and place a volt meter across the negative battery terminal and engine block I am getting a reading of 12.4V. I have disconnected the entire wiring harness to isolate how 12.4V is getting from the battery positive terminal to the chassis/block. I assume it is not normal for voltage to be getting from the positive terminal to the chasis/engine block.

With the alternator unplugged I traced the short to the fuse for the dome light. If I unplug the dome light, voltage goes from 12.4V to 1.8V across the negative battery terminal and engine block.

With the dome light fuse removed and alternator connected I get 12.4V across the negative battery terminal and engine block. If I unplug the alternator and dome light fuse I see ~1.8V across the battery negative terminal and engine block.

Any thoughts are welcome as to whether this is normal.

 

If anyone has a spare 10 minutes can you see whether you are getting voltage to the block?

1) disconnect the negative battery terminal cable from battery
2) with a voltmeter, put one side on the battery negative terminal(cable disconnected) and the other side on block/chassis
3) do you see a voltage?

 

my buddy checked his car and verified this is normal