SimplyMarkB

My 2009 Pony GT is not charging the battery. This problem seemingly occurred out of the blue since it was driving fine this AM. After work I stopped for gas and tried to start up and it (the battery) was dead. Just a few struggled attempts to turn the engine over. I got a jump from someone at another pump. On the right home my radar detector which is plugged into the 12 in the center console kept saying 'low voltage' and shutting down. I am guessing that this may be the alternator. Is it possible that it is anything else? Maybe the alternator fuse?

Anyone?

imp

Your battery exists for ONE reason only: to start the engine. (Unless you insist on listening to the radio with the engine off!). Once the engine starts, in a normally-functioning system, the alternator supplies ALL the power to all systems using it; the battery during that time, after the alternator has replaced the energy back into the battery which was used to start the engine. just "hangs out".

Is that understandable? So, given a malfunctioning alternator, the battery, if still charged fairly well, might manage to start the engine, but then must supply the "running energy" as well. This takes out juice from the battery until it's state of charge will no longer start the engine. Run it long enough with bad alternator, and it will go "dead".

Simply stated, there is no "alternator fuse", as such. Large fuse links protect it, but rarely go bad. They are another whole story. Have the alternator tested at a parts store, or if you are so able, measure the voltage at the battery terminals with the engine running. Anything less than 13 volts indicates a malfunctioning alternator, or possible poor electrical connections (less likely). imp

SimplyMarkB

Makes total sense Imp and thanks for your response. That inline fuse on the connector was a suggestion that I saw on a blog, but questioned it. Your response confirms some things for me. Since the running voltage was registering as low by two of my devices and my battery was failing to charge, I immediately thought alternater fail. I would venture to assume (no assume jokes) that replacing the alternator would be my immediate best bet. It has had a good run and never been replaced in 9 years of some pretty heavy use.

Thanks!

99GTvert

I will move this to tech forum.

Is the battery the original battery by any chance?

SimplyMarkB

No it is not. The battery was replaced about a year ago.