Wolf94

I've got a 94 GT and after a recent fender bender, my car keeps dying. It was in the shop a month due to a huge influx of cars needing repair and mine being the last and when it came to my car the battery was dead. Never had this problem before. So I replaced the battery and 4-5 days later it was dead again. May sound weird but I've also noticed that when I'm using cruise control and use my power windows, I can feel a marked decrease in power. This only occurs when using my cruise controls.

Now before I go in and trace every friggin' wire does anyone have any idea what could cause this?

rwh129

bad alternator

Wolf94

That's the problem, during those days the car is just sitting in the driveway, not being driven.

ttocs

start simple, check your connections. A simple fender bender could have shifted the battery and possibly the connection at the chassis right next to it? You can always have the local auto parts store check the alt if you are curious but what is it charging at?

stdyhand

I would bet on the Alternator but it could be a bad ground somewhere. I've had that happen in the past. I had to trace out and clean all grounds with a wire bush. Not sure which one it was but it fixed the problem.

From what you describe however it does sound like a bad alternator. I had one go bad and not only did the battery keep going dead from not being charged but I noticed a power decrease as well as interior lights flickering at times.

Take the car to a local autozone and have them check it. It's free and at least rules out the alternator if it does turn out to be something else.

TrimDrip

^ I thought I saw that pic of your car on ebay a while back.

Anyways, get you a test light. Take the neg side battery cable off. Hook the test light to the cable and touch the other end to the battery. if it lights up, you probably got a slow drain somewhere.

stdyhand

You did see it on there, few weeks back in fact. I was watching it for probably two weeks and finally decided to get it. Glad I did too because it is in great shape and just purs until I open it up. She screams and gets sideways. But of course thats not enough for me so I'm looking to get more power.

TrimDrip

haha, I knew it was. Only way I remember is because of it seeming like the best deal out there at the time. congratz on the new ride and a good deal too.

Wolf94

Yeah, went through and checked what wires I could that were available. Bought a brand new battery 3 weeks ago, battery is good its been tested and I'm relatively sure the altenator is good as well but I'll probably get it checked.

I've been checking it with a multi-meter and its seemingly good now. I found an exposed wire from my low radiator gauge or whatever and moved it and secured it. The little plastic piece had been stripped from the chassis. Hopefully that was the slow drain. I talked to my dad who's an electrician and he said it was more than likely a wire that had grounded out. So fingers crossed =D

TrimDrip

If you don't find it, get the test light and pull fuses and stuff like the light bulb in the truck and starter wire unitl the light goes out. Some cars the computer can try to energize throught the test light but, I don't believe it does on mine so the trick should work.