Re: battery??? help me out here guys. desperate!

by rebel101150 Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:55 am

Landonus wrote:Same here. Not sure if other companies do it but I only shop at Advance and they will check your alternator for free. Not sure how much help that is though. Where do you live if you don't mind my asking. Perhaps some one on the forum lives close to you that could help you out.

near pittsburgh,pa. Not sure if we have an members out here. and yes we have advanced here. gotta go to the right one because one of them is a bunch of kids who have no idea what they're doing.

by Landonus Fri Jan 18, 2013 4:02 am

That is so true! Lord do I hate seeking help from someone who knows less than me. There are a few folks from PA on here. Not sure how many are willing to play hero though.

by rebel101150 Fri Jan 18, 2013 4:05 am

heh I got lucky when my camaro broke down. turned out a member of third gen lived 10 min from me who could give me a hand with an engine swap. we hit it off, youd be surprised who lives near you on your community sites.

by Landonus Fri Jan 18, 2013 4:11 am

Yeah, I met a fella on here that lives about 5 mins away. Helps me out quite a bit.

by Joe73 Fri Jan 18, 2013 6:54 am

Just jumping in here!! Did you put a volt meter on the stud on the rear of the alternator and to ground while she's running. Should read about 14+ volts. If it does then the alt SHOULD be good.

Definitely check it to rule it out. Advanced auto can do the proper load check for you. If it comes up bad, PM me your address and I'll send you an alternator, free. They're an easy swap. But I think your problem may be elsewhere.

by rebel101150 Fri Jan 18, 2013 9:45 am

Joe73 wrote:Just jumping in here!! Did you put a volt meter on the stud on the rear of the alternator and to ground while she's running. Should read about 14+ volts. If it does then the alt SHOULD be good.

Definitely check it to rule it out. Advanced auto can do the proper load check for you. If it comes up bad, PM me your address and I'll send you an alternator, free. They're an easy swap. But I think your problem may be elsewhere.

Joe i'll definitely let you know. All I know so far is I popped the hood and most of the wires coming to/from the battery have tiny cuts and frayed wires everywhere. Almost like an animals got in there. There's also a few covers when it looks like the previous owner covered a previous exposed wire with some rubber wrap thing. My brain is leaning towards a short right now causing a fuse or something rather to blow. I baby my car....living in the country is not paying off here.

by Joe73 Fri Jan 18, 2013 11:06 am

If you have cuts and frayed wire then wires are exposed. Copper corrodes real easily and the corrosion will run under the insulation all the way to the end. Kind of like boat trailer light wiring. Once a little moisture gets under the insulation it corrodes all along. Electricity travels on the outside of wire strands. So the corrosion will definitely increase amperage and make a fuse blow if bad enough..

by rebel101150 Fri Jan 18, 2013 11:19 am

well....looks like my neighbors are superman lives.....someone who knew what they were doing disconnected my alternator from the positive terminal. my car was running on the battery the entire time, i don't understand how it was even recharging to begin with but this explains the really horrible fuel economy as well. haven't gotten it to start yet but my gauges are functioning again. I have an exhaust leak and apparently my neighbors don't like the sound of my 350 :p

but seriously who the hell cuts the cable to someones alternator?! It was clearly cut...

by 77mali Fri Jan 18, 2013 11:35 am

Do you have a battery charger? If not bring the batt to an autozone they can charge it and test it also. If you were running on the battery that whole time it's probably drained pretty good. If you can get the car to start then it should recharge itself but depending on how long it was like that the batt might not be charging to full capacity.

By the way, you guys are up really late...LOL

by rebel101150 Fri Jan 18, 2013 1:57 pm

77mali wrote:Do you have a battery charger? If not bring the batt to an autozone they can charge it and test it also. If you were running on the battery that whole time it's probably drained pretty good. If you can get the car to start then it should recharge itself but depending on how long it was like that the batt might not be charging to full capacity.

By the way, you guys are up really late...LOL

heh yeah I'm a software developer man. I work pretty odd hours. And yeah i'm not expecting it to recharge to full capacity, bought a set of jumpers today.

by HDHugger Sat Jan 19, 2013 7:22 am

rebel101150 wrote:

but seriously who the hell cuts the cable to someones alternator?! It was clearly cut...

A pissed off girlfriend....

by ant7377 Sat Jan 19, 2013 12:30 pm

Get yourself a Hayes manual for the car. At least you will have some quick reference for wiring diagrams and troubleshooting in case you get stranded like that again. Go through your wiring and at least for now get some electric tape and cover any wire thats frayed or cut.

by bigredlaguna Sat Jan 19, 2013 2:14 pm

[quote="HDHugger"]

rebel101150 wrote:

but seriously who the hell cuts the cable to someones alternator?! It was clearly cut...

A pissed off girlfriend....[/quote

Great zinger HD!!

by pila Sun Jan 20, 2013 1:44 am

It's best to get the battery charged before running it. Alternators don't like the heavy load, to charge a very low battery.

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