Battery Light on

[ellekat19]

My car (94 sc2) died this past weekend. I noticed that the radio starting cutting off, a light on the dash came on (anti-lock brakes), then it just stopped running. When we tried to jump it, it did nothing. The battery light had been on for only a few hours. I replaced the battery and the light is still on.

If it's the alternator, how will I know if it's a belt, the whole thing, etc...? I know nothing about cars.

Also, is it possible to get one from a junkyard, and if so, how hard is it to have it put on by one of my friends as opposed to going to a mechanic?

Thanks,

Dana

[sierrap615]

i'm 99% sure its the alternator, if the belt was broken, you could reach in and pull it out by hand. ( also the steering would be hard, the brakes stiff, no a/c, and the engine would over heat quickly)

i would not recomend getting a junkyard alternator, go to autozone or similar part store, most of them have 1 or 2 year warrentys too.(keep the old one for the core depost.)

the job won't be hard, it won't be easy ether.(lots of cars have the alternator on top of the engine, saturn tucks it away in the back)

heres a how-to:

http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/sho...threadid=23960


however, jumpstarting should would will a bad alternator, assuming you let the dead battery charge for a minute or two first. but the car should die shortly after dissconnecting the calbes

[malcolm brumley]

When you get this problem solved don't forget to torque the battery terminal bolts. I thought i had the bolts tight on one of mine untill the saturn shop pointed it out to me. It started fine and ran good untill it idled with the lights on. Then the lights dimmed and it died but (would restart). I had to kick it out of gear and idel it high at the red lights. They torqued the bolts and problem solved.