alternator or battery?

LikeNew02

LikeNew02

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A little history on my car first:

3 monthes ago i was having trouble with not being able to start my car without a jump start sometimes. i took the car to the dealer, and they said some of the cells in the battery were bad, and replaced the battery. with the new battery the car started faster than ever before

then this last weekend, i drive my girl to the pharmacy, and waited in the car listening to the radio. less than 5 minutes later, she comes back, i try to start the car, and it won't start. we call her dad for a jump and get back home.

i thought that maybe my small amp (40w x 2) could be the problem, so i disconect the amps power. since then, i have driven my car to work the last 2 day without any problem.

then today, i have the same problem, and require a jump again.

is this another bad battery or a bad alternator????

thanks for any advice
 
You can go to your local auto parts store and have them test the alternator. They can roll a cart out to the parking lout with an alternator tester and test it without removal. Here they will do that at no charge ( no pun intended.)

If it is OK, go back to the dealer with your battery.....

If it is under warranty, go see the dealer and have them do the same....
 
This should be easy to find. Two batteries going away isn't right and I would suspect the charging system. But you need more than a voltage check...you need to check the current output too under load. A good diagnosis will include this.
 
Bad batteries.....

While getting two bad batteries is bad luck it does happen. But as the others have pointed out, you do need to have the system checked in it's running state, on the car. It sounds like you may have a bad charging situation that is not keeping the battery at peak, or an intermittant charging situation most likely caused by a bad regulator. On these cars, and just about every car in production, the regulator is internal, inside the alternator, and you have to replace the alternator or have it rebuilt to get a new regulator. If you do get a new alternator, get a quality, lifetime replacement, alternator. And if you do have to replace the battery, get the best one that you can afford. Optima batteries are my choice, because I have never had one fail.
 
I am experiencing the same problems you describe. I had to have my car jump started and I had the dealer replace my battery in November and also had them check my charging system, it checked out good. No problems since then until today when it wouldn't start. I drove the car yesterday for about fifteen minutes and I also washed it but I don't think that could have caused any problems. I don't think it's the weather because its not that cold and has been colder since I replaced the battery. If you find something out please report.
 
I just went through the same thing I had to replace the alt. It was bad......Go down to local auto parts store(advanced discount over here) and have them test the atl and battery under load in the car while its running .....they do it for free and it will let you know what you need......Good luck and I got a 130 amp alt from discount for 168.99 and stealership charged 90 to put it in.....they sell the 110 for 250+ install......shop around its cheaper.....
 
Yeah get yer alternator checked...most of the time as long as your rolling its cool(cause the alt is turning) but soon as you stop at a light or listen to the radio you find out its bad.
 
before i went to drop it off at the dealership, i had more trouble starting the car. i wiggled the switch some and it started up. then a drop it off at the dealership.

dealership says, "PERFORMED DIAGNOSIS, BATTERY TEST GOOD, STARTER GOOD, CHECKED WITH NGS TESTER, NO CODES, FOUND INTERMITTEN IGNITION SWITCH MAKING CONTACT, REPLACED SWITCH, THEN RECHECKED COLD THE FOLLOWING MORNING OK."

i will believe that is it fixed if i don't have any problems for a week.

thanks for the advice
 
help

As far as "FOUND INTERMITTEN IGNITION SWITCH MAKING CONTACT" anyone have any ideas about how to check for something like this? or should I just bring it to a dealership or mechanic?

I am having similar problems to this post - battery seems to drain over time. I tested the alternator with a voltmeter and it's at ~13.9V. The car runs great with a jumpstart, but it seems to drain after a couple days if resonably charged. I don't think any lights or accessories are staying on...

Also I just let the car run for ~25mins and I checked it again and it was ~13.4V vs 13.9V earlier (dunno if that means anything)... it did get enough charge to restart the engine after turning it off (barely though).

I have had alternator problems before, I went throught about 3 OReilly's refurb alts till I finally got a good one. (This really sucked, after 2 you really start to think something else is the problem). I also had a Oreilly's battery go out on me after ~1.5yrs, and the same brand replacement is currently in the car...

So battery or alternator or other?
 
sorry, I have a 94 Mark VIII, did a search and thought it kept me under MarkVIII when I searched...
 
I am having this same issue and my battery is only 3 months old. I'm not sure whats draining my battery (subwoofers / kicker amp or bad alternator). I always listen to the sterio with the car on and i have a 2 farad capacitor. I have to decide between a new alternator or a second yellow top optima battery. My last question is would the ford warranty cover the alternator even though I have subs installed in the car? Anything would help.
 
honestly i had that problem. come to find out that it was my regulator in my alt and also some things inside the alt was fried and it was not charging my batteries, so i got one built and now i have no fails and its charging 2 optima yellow tops and a batcap and its doing just fine.
 
I went to the local Auto Zone the guy ran some tests and said my alternator is working fine and the battery is good too. Now the only thing i can think of is a short or a ground issue somewhere in the car.
 
How corroded are your terminals? Its a bad ground trust me. The guy at the atozone used to be a Master Tech at the place I bought my car. He got fired cause of all the cover jobs they did and he didnt appreciate it so they got rid of him. Some dealers ( the ones that will rip you off ) will give you a new battery, then alt, then they act like they dont know, keep your car for a week and make up some :q:q:q:qty ass story and say its fine now.

Would that be for my amp?
Click to expand...

No clue. All I know is its a prone thing just like all the other BS with these cars. The window's, the Coils, the Heated seats, the buttons on the dash, the Ash tray, ETC... I can really keep going this car is very poorly made in its first few months but it is still a great car that I love. Keep cleaning the terminals and use some protective spray they sell at Auto Zone. I noticed the spray lasts a week or so then gets all messed up again and you end up back at the begining, but just clean it again and spray it on again and you will be OK.
 
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