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Maintenance & Repair Electronic Gremlins: Electrical Problems That Are Driving You Crazy
1085 messages, Last post on Oct 29, 2009 at 11:41 AM
You are in the Maintenance & Repair Forum. Your Host is mr_shiftright
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I can not figure out why my truck is not charging.
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Replying to: thepopeson (Jul 30, 2008 4:40 pm) Any auto parts chain will check both your alternator and battery under load, a free test. (autozone, pepboys, etc). |
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| My 04 Accord was dead this morning (1 yr old battery) and I mean dead, no panel lights, starter click...nothing. So I jumped it and started off to work. I noticed that whenever I turned on the headlights the engine seemed to cut out for just an instant. The car actually bucked a little as well. Radio or a/c did not produce a similar effect. Where do I start looking for the problem? | |
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Replying to: jmaxe (Aug 11, 2008 10:58 am) - You could have a bad battery - You could have a bad alternator - You could have loose and/or corroded cable connections - You could have left something on (or something is defective which didn't turn itself off), which drained down your battery to nothing - Some combination of the above. The lights draw substantially more current than the other items. I suspect you have a VERY bad battery, or a couple diodes in your alternator are out and it's not able to produce enough current to charge up your battery or drive the lights. |
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Replying to: jmaxe (Aug 11, 2008 10:58 am) You should have the battery charged, otherwise you might overstress your alternator and then you'll have TWO problems.
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Hey first I want to let all you guys know I have worked in maintenance the past year. What I've learned in the past year is ALL I know about maintenance. It's general maintenance so I dont know all of the technical car terms. I appreciate any help you can give me also. I will try to be as descriptive as possible. I killed my battery by leaving my lights on overnight. When I attempted to jump my car from my girlfriend's car battery I accidently switched the cables and connected them in reverse. I successfully started the car (by connecting the cables correctly). When I removed the cables from the battery the car stalled immediately. I was told by several people to replace my alternator. I replaced my alternator. After replacing the alternator and jumping the car again the car does not stall after removing the cables but idles very low. The problem now is that when I press the break pedal to put it into gear the car stalls. I did not change anything except the negative battery terminal. I replaced it because it was rusted and broke off during the alternator changing process. The grounding block and negative cable are both connected to the new main terminal connection of the negative battery terminal. I made sure to connect the electrical wires securely to the new alternator also. I should also add that I took my battery to both Advanced Auto and Autozone to be tested. Advanced Auto's machine did not say bad but said "replace battery" indicating to me that the battery is bad. Autozone's said "good battery". I was ready to replace the battery until I saw that. I would prefer to save money if it is not the battery. Once again I appreciate any advice given.
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Replying to: satkins2252 (Aug 13, 2008 3:28 pm)
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Replying to: kiawah (Aug 13, 2008 7:57 pm) With the motor running and alternator correctly charging the battery, you should see something like 13 to 15 volts. Back to your problem. If you incorrectly connected the jumper cables, you might have done all kind of things in addition to harming the alternator. You might have also melted a fusible link somewhere close to the battery. Or burned up who knows what computer - more than one if your car has more than one. |
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Does anyone know where this fuseable link might be located. It's a 98 Ford Escort. I've looked all around the battery. I was told it looks like a giant fuse with a clear cover.
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Aug 11, 2008 11:35 am)
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