Bad Altenator? NEED HELP!!!!

Hey,

My Sunfire has been acting up since last week, last week I was driving it, turned it off for 30 seconds came back out tried to start it and battery was dead, so I gave it a boost and it ran till i turned it off again, then its dead, so I put in my new battery from my Cavalier, and it has ran fan until tonight, I turned it on after work, all the interior lights were dim and it took a bit more to start it, and then stalled it reversing, and tried to start it and it was dead again, so i got a boost and drove around for about half hour, and brought it home and its sitting in my driveway dead again......I thought it was the battery or the terminals, i sanded all the terminals and the ground so there is a solid connection everywhere, so would it be the alternator? I need help I need the car for the weekend!

You need to make sure the battery has a good charge. With everything turned off, put a meter across your battery posts, what does it read?

Get the vehicle started, take a second reading across the battery posts, the second reading should be higher than the first. You can also take a reading at the bat terminal on the alternator, with the engine running.

With the engine running does the charge lite or voltmeter on the dash show anything wrong?

Dont know how to do that

take it off the car and bring it to autozone, or Advance auto part and have it tested for free.

Go to your favorite shop just before closing ask them for a quick alternator check . Ask the mechanic. He won`t want to change it but may do a quick test on it knowing that you`ll do the swap if it is bad ...lol. other than that Canadian Tire here I come for a test and replacement. Autozone and advance would be nice to have up here but unfortunately ,Nooooooooo.