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Originally Posted by psychorallyfreak
Remove the battery then heavy load test it. Right.
I realize that I don't know what kind of experience you have, and I don't want to insult you. It just sounds so wrong (to me) to do something like that to a car, a surefire way to nuke the alternator.
My dad (yay family business) has a load tester for such symptoms, and all ya have to do is hook it up to the battery, look at the voltage, then start it up and look at the voltage again.
I know I'm just a wrench-turner. What do I know?
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You're Case: (correct me if I'm wrong) The car basically uses the battery as a capacitor. When the alternator can't do the charge, it just sucks it out of the battery. This is why they have deep cycle batteries for those huge stereo systems, they can take the punishment of huge drains and quick recharging. (Batteries weren't designed to have a constant drain and recharge on them)
My Case: Imagine you are trying to get a car with a low battery started and it barely turns over. Not only does the alternator now have to power the car but charge the battery as well. As long as you are just running the car, the alternator will be fine. Just my thought process...