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Originally Posted by jackacc
Well before I went to best buy, I had the batt and alt tested.. batt came out good  alt was bad 
The car was reading 12v when it was running (should be 14) so it looks like it was strictly running on the batt not the alt. However, I did not put my lights on (which I probably should have done so it would have put a little load on the batt to see if the alt would kick in..forgot.) ...but we let it run for a while and I never got a reading higher than 12.
So I guess I need to get myself a new alternator...!!
I still think something happened to it when I brought it in to have the radio and alarm installed... 
Oh well... Now I am just trying to think if there is anything else that can possibly go wrong with my car...   |
Well, you can find out if it is the alarm but I highly doubt it. Find a place that can do a load test on your car. What you'll want to do is have the meter hooked up then arm/disarm the car and anything else you want to test. Then, what ever you test, unplug it. If you see that meter move more than a few amps, then it could be that. Again, even the cheapest alarm actually works off of grounds not 12v. Most alarms only pull about 1/2 the amperage of a factory clock when not being used. Now, when they are activating doorlocks, lights, and such, that is a different thing.
It doesn't suprise me that they automatically said it was the altinator. Like they even had a clue. The only reason I said it was that they usually take for ever for an install. Usually keep your doors and hood open the whole time without disconnecting the battery or sticking a trickle charger on the battery. Well, sometimes what happens is that you have a weak battery and what they did finally did it in. Then they stick a HUGE battery that can really crank out the juice. They put that sucker on high and get the car to start. The problem is that it's really hard on the car's electrical system and usually the regulator is the first thing to go. That's because it's already been over used from having a weak battery that luckily you haven't noticed in the wrong way.
