crap- need help again -electric problem

Hopefully one of you can help me out here so I don't hav eto take my car to a pro and spend too much money. My alternator died a few weeks ago, so I replaced that (twice actually, the first alternator that they sold us didn't work...) And replaced my alternator belt. It is squeaking because it hasn't been tensioned correctly I guess, but taht isn't really my problem. My car isn't getting any power about 75% of the time form my battery.

I have had the battery tested twice now and they said that it is fine. I will put my battery in, and my car will just behave as if my battery was dead. No lights or anything. Then my battery will die apparently. ...or it did once, but then after recharging, it just keeps doing the same thing. Checked my starter out and as far as I can tell, there is nothing wrong with my starter.

So here is what I am thinking... a few months ago my stereo, dome lights, door lights, and key buzzer alarm thing wouldn't work. It seemed that there was a problem with the ignition switch. Couldn't figure it out, but I "fixed" that problem by using an old 12V line that had been running from the battery to the old stereo that was in my car. I simply wired that line into my "ignition" line into my stereo, and everything worked again. (except that my stereo woudl have to be manually turned off everytime I turned off the car otherwise the stereo would just stay on because it was connected directly to the battery.)

So, does anybody have any idea what could be going on with this? I have prety much run out of ideas, and don't really have the money to have a pro mess around with my car. Is there a way to re-wire or check the ignition system wiring. Does anyone know if there is something that could have gone wrong with my system by having it wired up like that? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Well, you need to check the fusible links in the underhood fuse box. I am going to bet there is a fuse blown there and thats why you lost power to the radio. On top of that, when you ran the power wire to the radio, I am betting it is leaving something else powered up, thus killing your battery.

Well, you need to check the fusible links in the underhood fuse box. I am going to bet there is a fuse blown there and thats why you lost power to the radio. On top of that, when you ran the power wire to the radio, I am betting it is leaving something else powered up, thus killing your battery.

I wish it was a fuse. I checked all the fuses and they are all fine. Also, I ran that line months ago and had no problems with it for months. Only after replacing my alternator am I having problems. Is there any way to check the ignition line/system or anything like that?

the problem seems to be the same line you ran direct from the battery a while back because like you said the reason you ran that wire was because your radio or light wouldn't come on and that fixed the problem... so now you still have that wire ran, but now nothing comes on again, maybe since you stated it was an old wire, there might be a slit somewhere causing a short...., or also i had a similar experience where my battery would get drained but that was after i had burnt a fuse....i replaced the fuse and each morning a would start my car and it would be dead.... so there was a short somewhere... wut i did was just turn on and off every single switch i could think of... and it turned out to be the dimmer switch... once i turned that one on and off, apparently it reset or something and my battery wasn't getting drained anymore.. also chech the power wire from the alternator to the battery, because that single wire is the one that powers the whole fuse box...

You may want to risk the $50 and replace the battery, I had one checked multiple times once and they kept saying it was good... I still had my problem, then i replaced the battery anyway and the problem was solved. so those machines can give a false positive it would seem.

anyway if your running out of ideas, try switching the battery out.

oh, and fix that wiring issue! As stealthee said it sounds like a fuse issue, did your dash lighst work? Test the fuses in the interior also.

kinda seems like you have a short somewhere...

When the stereo, dome light, door lights, and buzzer all quit then that DEFINITELY points at a fuse. Ive been there. There is a fuse under the hood and a few under the dash that could be blown that would cause that issue.

Also you see that thing called IOD in the underhood fusebox? It looks like a greenish yellow plug in. If its loose, it will act exaclty like that.

I dont know if you have digital climate but if you do I bet its resetting everytime you start the car. Also your ECU is resetting everytime you shut the car off.

Just purchase a big assorted pack of fuses for $5 and replace all of the ones in the drivers compartment, im betting that will solve your problem, and then rewire your deck right.

All the fuses appear to be fine.. and ugh.. I haven't been able to drive my car for 2 weeks now. Going to try the starter to see if that is shorting it out somehow. Don't really know how to get to the ignition switch area to check out that wiring in there, so I wouldn't know how to fix the wiring that goes to my stereo and whatnot.