92 Geo Metro is completely dead!

[geo_girl24]

I bought a 92 Geo Metro a few years back and have recently had trouble with it. Well, it started about a year or so ago actually. I had to get it a new alternator AND battery and then 6 months later it happened again. I had to buy yet anohter battery and alternator. Then like clockwork another 6 months later I had to buy them again. Now it's happened again but right now I am unable to work due to thyroid cancer and can't afford to get it worked on again. Usually i get charged anywehre from $300 to $400 to get a new battery and alternator put on. So I am stuck right now with NO car! And I'm about to go insane! Does anyone here know what the problem could possibly be? It starts out trying to start sort of and then just dies down to NOTHING. It won't even TRY to turn over. The dash lights don't even come on. Someone had told me that it was possible that the battery wires weren't ground right or something. I dunno...I'm at a loss here. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[frets14]

Geo Girl, I don't know if this has anything to do with your problem, but I had a 1989 Metro that wouldn't keep a charge. I replaced the battery and tried a couple of different alternators before I found the problem. The alternator recharges your battery thru a single wire that runs from the alternator to a fuse on the main fuse block (located right behind the battery) then from the fuse to the positive terminal of the battery. I had a corroded connector at the fuse block so the battery wasn't getting recharged and the volt meter reading at the positive terminal looked like the alternator wasn't putting out enough power (that's why I changed it a couple of times). Once I cleaned that connector and put it back together I had no more problems with it. I hope it's that simple for you too!
Steve

[DieInterim]

Originally Posted by geo_girl24

I bought a 92 Geo Metro a few years back and have recently had trouble with it. Well, it started about a year or so ago actually. I had to get it a new alternator AND battery and then 6 months later it happened again. I had to buy yet anohter battery and alternator. Then like clockwork another 6 months later I had to buy them again. Now it's happened again but right now I am unable to work due to thyroid cancer and can't afford to get it worked on again. Usually i get charged anywehre from $300 to $400 to get a new battery and alternator put on. So I am stuck right now with NO car! And I'm about to go insane! Does anyone here know what the problem could possibly be? It starts out trying to start sort of and then just dies down to NOTHING. It won't even TRY to turn over. The dash lights don't even come on. Someone had told me that it was possible that the battery wires weren't ground right or something. I dunno...I'm at a loss here. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Well sometimes drains are caused by installed items such as stereo amplifiers, alarms, or lights. As the other poster mentioned look at the connections going into the fusebox, but more importantly the keyswitch should be checked for intermittent operation.

You see the wire that goes from the alternator to the fusebox is the output, or the charging wire. The one that goes from the keyswitch to the alternator is the energizer wire. It takes a magnetic field to make electricity so power must come from the switch to energize the alt. start field. If the switch is faulty then your alternator will not charge the battery. A third wire is a switched ground that turns off the alternator light when the alternator is charging.

So I have a couple of questions.

1. Does your charge light come on when you switch the key? And when you start the engine does the light extinguish?
2. Are the batteries you buy brand name batteries or are they refurbished?
3. Do you ever jump start other cars with your car?
4.When your battery runs low do you remove the battery and charge it or do you rely on the alternator to recharge the battery?
5. Is your auto hard to start?

Regards,
Blake