04 3.9 convertible, friday morning i had a dead battery, had to jump it, got to work and back home without a problem. went away for the weekend. this morning the car barely started up, drove a mile then my aftermarket radio turned off and everything including headlights went dim, i parked and popped the hood and looked for loose connections, didn't find anything, i shut the hood and got back in my car and the car died, got it jumped again and took it home. after i got off of work, i jumped the car and it ran fine without the headlights and heat on. then i tuned the headlights on and my voltage dropped to 9.0 then the car shut off, then i jumped it again and drove to autozone without the headlights or heat on and it ran fine, had then test the alternator but their tester couldn't do a read, drove it back home , parked it and turned the heat and ac on and the car died. is it a alternator problem?

 

most likely....you should go to a parts shop that can actually read your alternator

 

Well there are ways to know of its either or.

If once you jump the car it starts fine, sounds like your battery is dying. If you turn the car on, and while driving it around, things shut off, things dim, then it could be your alternator. If you have trouble starting it AND things shutting off, it could be both.

Remember that the job of your battery is to start the engine. Once the battery uses its power to fire everything else up, the alternator takes over the charge to maintain the voltages levels. So once the car is on, the alternator should take control.

 

If you can, get a multimeter and use the instructions in this link to test everything

http://www3.telus.net/chemelec/Proje...Alternator.htm

It sounds to me like you just have a dead battery or bad connections.

 

Take it to Advanced and have them put their meter on it, it will be able to tell where the problem is

 

Yeah easiest way is with a voltage meter. Unhook battery and test the voltage on it...then when you fire it up test the voltage. Should be like 12volts on own and 13-14volt when on (13-14 shows alternator is working)