Guest floorpie Posted March 15, 2004 Report Share Posted March 15, 2004 so my car ran fine til a week ago. then the battery died. charged it up and took the terminal off,still ran, sono alternator problem, right? went andboughtan ew battery. car got me from cleveland to cinci to back to columbus then it died. charged the battery. as soon as i drove with the headlights on. BAM dead within 20 min. COMPLETELY dead. one of my headlights only works if you beat on it,could this short be causing it? i drove home from cleveland on saturday and by the time i made it back the battery charge light was flicking when i hit corners or stopped, this has actually never hapened before. i'm dumb. please help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nurkvinny Posted March 15, 2004 Report Share Posted March 15, 2004 Everything you have said describes an alternator failing. Your local auto parts store should test your bat. and alt. for free. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest floorpie Posted March 15, 2004 Report Share Posted March 15, 2004 yeah i had auto zone check but they jsut told me the battery was good and alternator bad. took it another place and they said the battery was completely dead and bad. talked to ridenred and he said it probably wasnt the alt but i'm waiting to hear from him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nevarmore Posted March 15, 2004 Report Share Posted March 15, 2004 In my experience when one goes both the alternator and battery go. When the alt dies, the battery follows because it has to handle the car's load. When the battery dies, the alt fries trying to charge it back up. It's worth the peace of mind to replace both the battery and the alternator at once. Especially since a lot of alts have lifetime or really long warranty periods. Plus a lot of alts are the same for a lot of cars, if the whole thing takes a shit you can raid the alt for the next ride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desperado Posted March 16, 2004 Report Share Posted March 16, 2004 One of the reasons that you should at least consider replacing battery. Lead /Acid car batteries are not designed to be deep cycled. Meaning that it be discharged then recharged, which is what you have basically done. It is hard on them. I have been told that a car battery will loose 20% of its current capacity every time it's allowed to be run dead. Now I don't know for sure if this is true, but I have used car batteries as power supplies and run them dead and then recharged them and after abotu 20 times, they will not charge. So there may be something to it. A car battery is designed to release very high amperage, for a short amount of time, when starting the car. Were a deep cycle marine battery is designed differently internally. ANd it is designed to be run dead, or a good portion of the way down, then charged back up. I have made the mistake of trying to run a deep cycle battery in a car and killed it in about a month. SO in your case, break down and get a battery. Best place to go if you are strapped is either AutoZone, or Interstate battery i Westerville and get a rebuilt battery. They are as good as new, and cost a bit less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest floorpie Posted March 17, 2004 Report Share Posted March 17, 2004 i bought a brand new battery over the weekend. still did it after a long trip back from cleveland. my headlight only works if you jiggle the wirees, the alt is good it confusesme ridenred27 is gonna check it out tonight, maybe he can figure it out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nurkvinny Posted March 17, 2004 Report Share Posted March 17, 2004 Originally posted by NurkVinny: Everything you have said describes an alternator failing. It's sounded like the alt. from the beginning. Plus, AZ tested the alt, and told you it was bad. Then, you replaced the battery. Originally posted Bum Runner: the alt is good. Why do you think the alt. is good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raptor_69_311 Posted March 17, 2004 Report Share Posted March 17, 2004 Take a multimeter and test the alt, it should be around 14 volts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1_slow_600 Posted March 18, 2004 Report Share Posted March 18, 2004 Its gotta be the altanator. Sounds like the same problems I was having. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nevarmore Posted March 18, 2004 Report Share Posted March 18, 2004 I still maintain its both. Let us know what the final fix is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Putty Posted March 23, 2004 Report Share Posted March 23, 2004 Has to be the alternator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrblunt Posted March 23, 2004 Report Share Posted March 23, 2004 are your terminals covered in acid? this really messed w/ two cars i had, cleaned them off w/ a wire brush along w/ the terminal clamp and car was much better. worth a glance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jpurdy2003 Posted March 25, 2004 Report Share Posted March 25, 2004 It's your alternator. And DO NOT buy an auto parts store rebuild. I have been through three on the Talon in a year. They might replace them free when they fail, but it sucks being stranded when they do fail. The boneyard is your friend, if you can find an OEM one there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaSSon Posted March 25, 2004 Report Share Posted March 25, 2004 I picked up a batt from wally world pretty cheap. I think it has a life time warranty too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest floorpie Posted March 25, 2004 Report Share Posted March 25, 2004 it was *** alternator belt, it was slipping at high speeds. fixed and done..thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridenred27 Posted March 25, 2004 Report Share Posted March 25, 2004 yeh that is a commen problem with festivas is the crank seal leaks the oil gets on the belt and makes it slip. it also deteriats the belt causing stretch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest floorpie Posted March 25, 2004 Report Share Posted March 25, 2004 thanks again for fixing it man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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