Not the battery....Alternator????

[TecChic]

HI! Okay bought got a cheap 96 baretta that had been just sitting there unused for awhile. Ran fine for about a week. Then it had trouble starting. But nothing a little and heat and incentive couldn't fix. Then after about a week of not much liking to start the battery light suddenly came on while driving. Now, it doesn't really want to do anything. I took out the battery and plugged it into a charger to see if it'd take and hold a charge. According to the charger it did. However, after 2 turns to try and start, the battery was completely dead. Sooo...plugged it back up to the charger again but kept it in the car this time. This time got it started. Battery light was on still but car didn't loose power this time after putting it into gear. I figured I'd let it sit running to charge the battery back up but then it quite again. It putt putted before it died so I jumped in to hit the gas before it died to try and help. I noticed the battery light was no longer on but I was outta gas! So...went and got gas, put it in.... Nothin cuz battery dead again. Got a new battery, put it in. Now, soon as it starts I quick have to give it gas to keep running but soon as I take my foot off the gas it quites immediately!
Any thoughts? Pretty Please?

[jsgold]

If your battery light was on the alternator most likely id dead or very weak. Will keep killing batteries and maybe starter too if not fixed. Most starters will fail with low voltage, say, less than 10 volts. Charge the new battery on the charger for a while, and see if you can get the alternator checked somehow. You have to be able to test voltage output as well as amperage. Advance can do this for free or Autozone, but you have to take the car to them. Not sure if that is a good idea. I suppose if you charge the new battery for a couple of hours and get a volt meter you can at least get the voltage output checked on the alternator. Should be 13-14 volts. Anything less and it is bad. If you get it started and the check battery light is not on you might try to get it to one of the places I mentioned so they can use a better tester on it. My guess is that the alternator is toast, as Berettas and Corsicas are hard on them due to heat problems.

[blaze360]

first thing i would do is take the battery to a dealer and have them test the battery to see if the battery is good you wont be able to tell by hooking it to a charger and charging it seconad put the battery in the car and start your car while it is running disconect the positive cable from the battery if your car dies right away then the alt is shot if not alt is good third try buing new plugs and cables and make sure the plugs are gapped right thie gap specs for a 96 beretta is .45 on the spark plug gap tester but you can ask any autozone to find the correct gap befor doing this i would check your coils and see if any are cracked or broken if they are they need to be replaced if those are good and you have done all this and the problem still is there then i would have your fuel to air mixture checked as your car is probly running to rich or lean this is done by checking the timing of your car last go along your entire exaust system and check for any bent or kinked pipes or any thing else the might be blocking the exaust from leaving the car and dont forget to check you pvc and egr valves and vacume hoses do all that and it should fix your problem

[niccaleb112602]

isn't there a idle set-up on these cars where you had to run it in gear for a couple of minutes for the computer to learn how to idle??