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electrical problem help i keep gettin stranded

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Old 09-18-2009, 12:41 AM
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labtec101
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Default electrical problem help i keep gettin stranded

ok so i have this battery problem still you guys suggested try taking the battery off overnight n see if it starts well i did that and the battery is still dying it needs like a 15 min charge then its good to go again but its complicated because the car willnot start at all with out the charge if i turn the car off it will not start again unless i boost it but sometimes if it scratch the red cable against the battery terminal to make a spark it will work but is becoming less frequent now n e suggestions
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Old 09-18-2009, 10:02 AM
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mudvayne1
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Get a new battery. Your alternator could be bad which would cause it to not charge your battery. To find out if its bad start your car and turn the lights and stereo on and unhook the battery. If it dies then your alternator is bad.
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Old 09-18-2009, 11:59 AM
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06SSilverGT
 
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maybe its a bad terminal connection.... take a clear pic of ur battery and terminals for us
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Old 09-18-2009, 04:14 PM
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ChalknCover
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Is there any corrosion around the cables?
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Old 09-19-2009, 09:01 AM
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labtec101
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ok i will try the alternator thing the battery is almost brand new less then a yr and i recentry bought new terminals for the battery and also put dielectric grease on them so the terminals should not be the problem,
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Old 09-20-2009, 01:17 AM
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hiboostwoody
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If you pulled the cables off overnight and then hooked them up and still had to jump start it your battery is **** up, even if it is new. DON'T PULL THE BATTERY CABLE OFF WITH THE CAR RUNNING. You can ruin a perfectly good alternator doing this as well as possibly short your PCM/ECM out. If you need to test your alternator, take it off and take it to a parts store that has a bench tester and they will test it for you but if the car stays running and you just can't start it after you shut it off the alternator is working. That's what is keeping the car running when it's started. If the alternator was bad, it would only run until the battery voltage got low enough that it would no longer fire the ignition and fuel system, which isn't very long in an EFI car. If the alternator AND battery were bad, it wouldn't stay running when you take the jumper cables off. You can also test the alternator with a digital volt/ohm meter. Put it on the 20 volt setting and touch the probes to the posts on the battery with the car running. You should be seeing over 13.5 volts but not more than about 14.8 volts. If you aren't seeing at least 13.5 volts, the alternator is bad. Have someone turn on the high beam headlights and A/C and the voltage should stay constant or drop slightly then recover. If it doesn't then your alternator isn't keeping up. If you see over 15 volts, then the voltage regulator is shot which is inside the alternator. A bad voltage regulator will fry the battery by allowing the alternator to overcharge it. It's also not unheard of for a brand new battery to be no good. Espescially if they have been subjected to a lot of vibration, extreme cold (you DO live in Canada), etc. What happens with the vibration or if the battery freezes is that the lead on the plates flakes off and builds up on the bottom of the inside of the battery between the positive and negative plates (the plates alternate between positive and negative inside the battery). When enough of it flakes off, it makes contact between the plates and shorts the cell out.

Last edited by hiboostwoody; 09-20-2009 at 01:34 AM.
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