Bad Altenator? NEED HELP!!!!

[yhandor]

Hey,

My Sunfire has been acting up since last week, last week I was driving it, turned it off for 30 seconds came back out tried to start it and battery was dead, so I gave it a boost and it ran till i turned it off again, then its dead, so I put in my new battery from my Cavalier, and it has ran fan until tonight, I turned it on after work, all the interior lights were dim and it took a bit more to start it, and then stalled it reversing, and tried to start it and it was dead again, so i got a boost and drove around for about half hour, and brought it home and its sitting in my driveway dead again......I thought it was the battery or the terminals, i sanded all the terminals and the ground so there is a solid connection everywhere, so would it be the alternator? I need help I need the car for the weekend!

[jdl]

You need to make sure the battery has a good charge. With everything turned off, put a meter across your battery posts, what does it read?

Get the vehicle started, take a second reading across the battery posts, the second reading should be higher than the first. You can also take a reading at the bat terminal on the alternator, with the engine running.

With the engine running does the charge lite or voltmeter on the dash show anything wrong?

[yhandor]

Dont know how to do that

[Classicrocjunkie]

take it off the car and bring it to autozone, or Advance auto part and have it tested for free.

[muff34]

Go to your favorite shop just before closing ask them for a quick alternator check . Ask the mechanic. He won`t want to change it but may do a quick test on it knowing that you`ll do the swap if it is bad ...lol. other than that Canadian Tire here I come for a test and replacement. Autozone and advance would be nice to have up here but unfortunately ,Nooooooooo.