I left for work yesterday morning and a few miles down the road I noticed my turn signals were hesitating. Then my radio cut out. Then I noticed the volt light. My quick diagnosis was alternator. Then when I was done for the day I figured it wouldn't even start. It did, ran 12 miles until the battery ran out and there I was. I pulled the alternator off last night and had it tested today. It's fine. 14.5 volts..... Any ideas on what my next step is here?
Try using a charger charger overnight to see if it's the battery no longer accepting a charge. Unfortunately, if this is the problem, a normal store-bought charger that doesn't give a serious jolt might not work, and the ones that do start off with that kind of power (18-24 volts) usually only exist at service stations.
If that isn't it, it could be the electronics in the car drawing more energy than usual. Testing for this requires an ammeter and something called a parasitic-draw adapter. (I'm getting all of this out of my car care book, so I don't know what this does...)
Also check for possible shorts, such as wire contacting other metal or the battery just being properly connected.
Got the car off the trailer at my folk's last night. The in-line fuse near the battery looked fine. I put a test light on the alternator 'power out' tested fine. the 'big' connector on the alternator harness cable tested fine. I did find a 30amp fuse in the passenger side fuse panel under the hood that looked dark, but not broken. It's the lower right one, the owner's manual said "ignition" something or other. I guess I'll replace that and see what happens. Before I left last night I put my charger on there and had my dad to take it off after a couple hours. See what happens tonight I guess.
Bad ground(s) and a cheap off shore alt (not OEM) or even a rebuilt unit will likely fail intermediately due to crap parts being used.
Took the battery in and it tested bad. Bought a new one and everything seems fine. I couldn't believe it. I figured once a car was started, the alternator would be enough to run the car.
Glad it was a simple fix. Just make sure it doesn't expire over a year or so, or there might still be a problem that isn't just the battery.
yea these cars wont hardly run with a bad battery