lizzyfan

Alt

2002GTAUTOVERT

i think its the 65 shelby causing the problem. seperate the two (by shipping me the shelby)

Pest007

Get that battery checked ASAP, I had to get a jump, drove home through 30 min of traffic, almost home, and the ALT took a dump trying to charge a dead battery, needless to say I have a nice shinny new ALT and a battery $250 later....

SikSide00GT

Yea Man that happened to my 00GT when i started it up the battery light went on and i drove it as far as i could and it died as soon as i parked it in my driveway. My alternator went to **** and my car just drained my battery. WHATEVER YOU DO DONT TAKE IT TO A DEALERSHIP!!!! They CHARGED ME about 650 for a new battery and alternator. I was a newb back then a didnt know better

CobraStangGT16

OK BIG UPDATE GUYS...

I was driving the car this morning, and when I started the car after pumping gas, it struggled, but started. Then as I was leaving the pump, the battery meter started to die...I quickly made a U turn and got a safe spot where it shut down, and didn't start back up. I got a jump from a really nice fella in a Benz (thank God I had my jumper cables with me), and it started up after 5 minutes of charging my battery. I drove it for another 10 miles, when the battery light popped up, and the meter started falling. I quickly made it safely to another parking lot, where I waited for AAA to come and check it out/tow me home. The guy came and charged my battery again, then said I'll follow you halfway home and if it starts to fall, slap on the flashers. It drove fine on the way home, the battery lamp was on, mind you. Then after he seperated from me and I waved him off, I headed for home. I got to my street, and made the corner, then I see the meter start to fall again, so I slammed on it in 2nd, got to about 40mph, and let it coast onto my driveway where it sat dead until this afternoon.

I called AAA to send out a Battery Technician. He has that expensive NASCAR machine that reads your entire charging system. He read ev everything and came to this conclusion: The battery alone was dead when he got there. When he jump started the battery, and let the car run, he hooked up the device, and it told him the battery and alternator both ran at 13.5v, which is normal for operation. He said my alternator was fine. The only conclusion he made was that the battery was old and drained, and the alternator couldn't catch up with it and have enough juice to power the car. He said that if I replace the battery, it should run fine. He said my alternator is DEFINATELY NOT BURNED OUT. I believe him, because earlier, my car was running at 11.8v, meaning the battery was not up to speed.

I think I'll just go buy myself a Costco battery and be done with this shyt.

Let me know of any thoughts you may have. I'd like to see your approval of his diagnosis.

Thanks guys!

Pest007

Your lucky the ALT held up, but sounds like you did the right thing by not pushing it too far

CobraStangGT16

Yeah but I just read sikside00GT's comment, and thats exactly what I experienced 3 times. Thats starting to scare me a bit...

I just went outside to check on the car while it has been idling for 30 minutes, and as soon as I opened the door and sat inside, I saw that the all my gauges were dead, my lamps off, and my dome light dim. Then the car sputtered and shut off.

Does that sound like the ALT. is dead and the car was just running off the battery? How long can a V8 idle off JUSTthe battery alone? Doesn't it only put out 12v? If it was the alternator that was broken, then wouldn't the car have shut off much earlier due to draining the battery and not using the alternator?

The reason I justify that it's the battery is because the car will idle fine forever with no radio/major electric draws, because the battery does not need to be at full voltage to run them, meanwhile the alternator only trying to charge it to that minimum voltage. But as soon as the dome light came on, it drawed power from the battery, dropping the voltage level and killing the car. Thats my interpretation...please correct me if I got anything wrong.

shaun12

lol...nice

importkiller89

oo and to let pitt know pop starting the car or push starting wouldnt have any thing to do with the alternator haveing to do more work or any thing because it only spins and makes power as fast and as much as the engine turns and pop starting the car would only make it so that u dont have to jump start the car because the battery doesnot have enought juice to turn over the motor thus conserving more juice to send to the spark plugs to make the car charge it self unstead of haveing a jump

Pitt

If you push start a car it's because you dont have voltage in the battery to run the starter, therefore when you push start it...your electronics depend on the little voltage left in the battery, usually about 10 volts if not too bad and on the voltage the Alternator will produce when the car starts. If you jump start it, you are basically charging your battery, therefore putting the voltage in your battery to hopefully 12v+, now when you start, your battery already has voltage to run the electronics and the alternators job is just to keep that voltage up instead of providing it completely.

In reference to Cobrastangs.... problem, you would be amazed of the weird crap a battery that doesnt hold a charge will cause. Like I stated earlier, it's probably your battery and your AAA tech seems to agree. Get that shyt changed and good luck man.