canusa Posted November 18, 2003 Report Posted November 18, 2003 ok i was driving down the raod.. heat on, rear defrost on.. hit my brakes.. and car died.. tried to start it.. nothing battery is dead. which leads me to believe that the alt. is not charging. luckily i was going downhill, so i popped the clutch and away i went. i get to school. boost the car after class to bring it in the shop (i'm taking automotive) and when i turn the car off after the boost.. it started again np. which makes me believe the alt is charging.. can that even be possible. that it charges only when it wants to? i'm open to any and all suggestions on what to do. how to check certain things. btw it's a 91 GTP thanks -canusa Quote
MaroonRegal Posted November 18, 2003 Report Posted November 18, 2003 Yeah, I think that's pretty likely. My Cougar was like that for awhile. Sometimes the alternator was perfectly happy to do it's job, and other times it wouldn't charge hooker for a year's supply of condoms. It eventually stopped working entirely. Quote
canusa Posted November 18, 2003 Author Report Posted November 18, 2003 is there anyway to check and see if that is actually what is happeneing? i mean. what if i test it and it's doing its job?? am i just gonna have to wait and catch it when it's not working? Quote
99RegalGS Posted November 18, 2003 Report Posted November 18, 2003 A good way to check the altenator is to unhook the battery while the car is running. If the car still runs It's not the altenator. If it dies the altenator is bad. Hope this helps. Quote
canusa Posted November 18, 2003 Author Report Posted November 18, 2003 ok well we just finished charging the battery and we are going to do a load test on it to see if it holds a charge. i'll let you know what happens. Quote
canusa Posted November 18, 2003 Author Report Posted November 18, 2003 battery checked out ok. ... so did the charging system. problem comes and goes. Quote
sonyman87 Posted November 19, 2003 Report Posted November 19, 2003 a few things it could be 1. dead alt. but the battery as a fast recovory rate 2. the alt could be bad when HOT but when its cold it works just fine 3. there could be a short with one or more of your electircal circuts draining the battery to nothing. Quote
cutlassdude96 Posted November 19, 2003 Report Posted November 19, 2003 also check if its putting out 14v with the engine running Quote
brother pig Posted November 19, 2003 Report Posted November 19, 2003 Another thing to look for, and I know this sounds simple, but check the cables at the battery. My friend was having all sorts of problems that would come and go just like yours. This all just after having the battery replaced. Turned out to be corrosion on the cables. It's simple to clean them. Might want to give it a try. Quote
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