2001 SL2 Electrical Problem

[steviepb04]

My wife purchased this car in May and was fine ever since. Sometime in November we started having problems with it starting. (She did have a system hooked up at the time). The car would run fine after being jumped, but would go dead after sitting over night. First choice was to change the battery. Started up beautifully the next morning, assumed the problem was solved.

No luck starting it the day after though. I unhooked the feed wire to the amp, and jumped it again. The next day it was dead so we installed a new altenator. Tested it at 15 volts at the battery. Once again problem solved.

After a few days the same problem came back. We thought it may be a problem with the aftermarket radio, and began shutting it completly of at the end of the day. This worked fine for a few weeks. Now she went to start it again this morning and it is dead again.

I have no idea what is going on. I have no experience with Saturns and would like to get some feedback. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[saturnspeed_12]

ok to start 15 volts at the battery is too much. next a common problem with them is a belt tensioner that becomes loose not allowing the system to fully charge. just a question, have you checked to make sure every light is off before walking away? this problem takes time to trace down. whoever installed the cd player could have crossed a wire and even with the cd player off, it still could draw power. faulty wiring, bad ground wire(s)/ground for battery, i mean its a huge list of things.