Alternator / Battery Mystery
blizmop
11-22-2005, 04:14 PM
Here is a frustrating problem I am having:
I picked up a rebuilt alternator that was tested right in front of me as working.
I put it in and went for a 40km drive that drained the battery completely.
I figured the alternator was not working so I got it tested again, and again it was working.
I picked up a brand new battery to replace the original dead one.
So with my new battery and working rebuilt alternator I put the car back together. Result - no power. :banghead:
I boosted the car from a truck and it ran. As soon as the jumpers came off the car died immediately. :eek7: The brand new battery is only registering 5 volts right now and the car seems to be leaking the power constantly, even though all the accessories are off. There is no large stereo either. This happened all of a sudden too - the car was parked for a month and I had started it once per week until the final week when it would not start. Thats when I began this repair process.
So the question is: how can I find the leak? Or, whats the problem?
Any input would be greatly appreciated!
I picked up a rebuilt alternator that was tested right in front of me as working.
I put it in and went for a 40km drive that drained the battery completely.
I figured the alternator was not working so I got it tested again, and again it was working.
I picked up a brand new battery to replace the original dead one.
So with my new battery and working rebuilt alternator I put the car back together. Result - no power. :banghead:
I boosted the car from a truck and it ran. As soon as the jumpers came off the car died immediately. :eek7: The brand new battery is only registering 5 volts right now and the car seems to be leaking the power constantly, even though all the accessories are off. There is no large stereo either. This happened all of a sudden too - the car was parked for a month and I had started it once per week until the final week when it would not start. Thats when I began this repair process.
So the question is: how can I find the leak? Or, whats the problem?
Any input would be greatly appreciated!
blizmop
11-23-2005, 07:58 PM
So it turns out the brand new battery was dead - totally. I went through a hour and a half battle at Canadian Tire to get the stupid thing replaced, but I did. With the new-new battery in the car the volts register around 10 while running and around 11 while off. I drove for about 25 minutes with the accessories on to check things out and it held at 10 volts. The strange part is that whenever I put the rear defrost on, or applied all the accessories at the same time the volts would go as low as 5 or 6 - whether or not the engine was running.
The battery is still connected and when I go out in the morning I am anticipating a dead battery. We will see.
The battery is still connected and when I go out in the morning I am anticipating a dead battery. We will see.
corning_d3
12-07-2005, 08:32 PM
Get another alternator.. It could be fine on the tester with no load, but load it up with all your accessories and it could demand too much from it.
blizmop
12-08-2005, 07:50 AM
Problem solved - the power line from the alternator to the battery was shorted just after the fuse at the starter. Replaced it and all is well. It was a waste to replace the alt and bat :(
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