Just changed my thermostat. Also, changed by by positive cable and negative terminal....Now, car is dead. Have jumped it twice, driven it for a while, taken it home, shut it off. Then, IMMEDIATLY, its dead. Have not had time to check it out yet, was curious what you think it might be? The last and only time I have ever had a car do this the alternator was dead, but I changed the alternator in this car just a few months ago.

Is it possible the bat just died? Its fairly old.....I have just never had a bat die like this. Will probably take the car to an auto zone tonight and have it tested to see if the bat is bad or not.

 

if the battery is more than 5 years old you should just replace it. however, you really need to make sure that all of your new battery cable connections are tight.

 

Ok, took the car to an auto zone. Guy who tested it was new, not totally sure what he was doing.

He hooked up the tester, and the alternator ran 12.7 volts. I think thats low.....Seem to remember that it SHOULD be higher, like 15-18. Am I wrong? The alternator is under warrenty, so i can replace it if that is low. I killed the car so he could test the bat, but the bat discharged so quick he could not run the test. It told him to charge the bat and then test it.


So.....?

 

Wanted to add that my naighbor recently toped off my bat fluid with water....He is a huge car guy, and he checked it while I was doing something else to it. He owns an 87 notch which he has done extensive work on, so he knows what he is doing.....BUT AFTER he did this, the car started dieing. Could this have done something?

 

12.7 v on a running alt is very low to the point of failure. Replace it. alt should see 13.5 to 15v. 12.7 is barely enough to keep the car running.

 

Do both. If alt is under warranty replace it. Should be outputing at least 13.0V. Battery is probably shot too. My have a bad cell. If an alt is charging the battery at all you should have enough power to at least spin the starter a tad if the battery is just weak. If it wont do anything the battery is shot.

Plus youll know both are good and ready to go this way.

 

Going to check the battery this weekend, replaced the alter tonight, car is running fine and starting again......Going to find the ground strap on the engine, check the connection, check the connection on the negative bat cable, as it really charges low at an idle. Lights dim a little, and you can see the guage go down. Brother in law tells me its likely a bad ground somewhere....