Yesterday morning I started my car and noticed the battery light stayed on. I drove straight to advance to check it out. Of course with that pretty battery cover I have never bothered to look under there. There was about a pound of corrosion under there. So after accepting my award for most corrrosion on a battery we cleaned it off and ran the battery test. She passed the test but the battery light stayed on. He told me to take it home and clean it better. I had to go to my sisters house so I figured I would be ok. About 20 miles out in the middle of bumf#$^ my radio went out... Then litte by little all the lights started coming on in the dash.. then my steering went out at a convienent 70 MPH. I pulled over, pitched a fit, cried, used a passer byes cell phone since I had no signal unless I stood out in the middle of the highway, cried somemore, got a few hoots from guys passing buy, then waited for AAA. After Jethro picked me up he took me back to the garage to sit with bubba for an hour while he went on another call!! I chose to have her towed to my friends house so her hubby would be forced to fix something on my car (he has a 7 and is an 8 hater). I thought for sure it was the alternator.. He called this morning, it was the battery terminal and it cost 4 bucks to fix it!! Now I just need to find a way to get back there to go get my baby... She may act up sometimes but she never lets me down.

 

Damn, that sucks - glad it was easy and cheap.

Do you do all your own maint normally?

 

Hee hee.. I have been learning.... I went from not being able to even change a flat tire a year ago to knowing how to put my new clutch in.

 

Right on!!!!

Clutch jobs are no joke...

Often - what we do is color code all of our systems (diving related) so we can trace air lines quickly; I kinda thought about doing my engine bay that same way; so when you have say a battery problem - you can start from square one and trace it all the way through - which would have meant you would have caught the problem right away.

Either way - I bet you look under there from time to time now huh???

 

know how and actual changing it are 2 diff things ...

Anyway, isnt it obvious ? I mean no offense but ... if the battery test out to be fine then it must be the terminal ...

 

Sorry I didnt clarify that I changed the clutch there.. and it could have been the alternator as well.. which is the conclusion I came to at first along with several men who I spoke to about it for opinions. I think that I am going to go ahead and replace the alternator and the starter since I am still getting a slugish start. Im just happy its fixed and yes Kane.. I will be checking on the battery quite frequently now, LOL... Im just glad it happened while I was near home and not next week while I was driving to VA.

 

ooo. nycgps needs to take his foot out of his mouth.

 

Yep..............just a little bit.
Don't think he read the whole post first.

 

I wouldn't just go and replace the alternator here Pink.
Just check it and see how much it's putting out. If it reads low, then okay..............but if your terminals were that bad and eventually this lead to not only not charging the battery but also loosing electrical to the car..............then that was your immediate issue.
Hard starts aren't really caused by the alternator unless it's not recharging the battery......and this seems to be your case, that it was due to all that corrosion.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.

You really should check out the battery and make sure it didn't lose a cell or something, and that it will still hold a good charge since it's possible you drained it pretty well.
Then you can check the alternator..............then move on to the starter.


How long has hard starrts been going on?

 

Sounds right to me Maz - I would start simple and work your way up.

 

Na, your right. Im going straight to Advance when I pick her up and having the alternator tested. He said it still has a sluggish start and suggested to do a check on the alternator... Me and Gr3ddy had been thinking it was the starter so I will go over everything and see what needs to be done. Im just happy she is running. I have a job interview in Va all next week and have been trying to get this job for the past 10 years. I would have been soo screwed if I didnt have her running.

 

That's cool...maybe u can teach me then...

 

put voltmeter set to VDC on the terminals while it is running and it should read about 14.7VDC if so then alt is fine if low clean alt terminals as they too will corode and keep it from charging properly..

 

Yeah....guess I should've told her how to do it and what it should read, but oh...well. That avatar looks kinda creepy BTW.

 

j/k, sorry just couldn't resist

 

sluggish start is low battery..

btw, i have a alt if you need it. send me a pm.

beers

 

meh ...

I wish my gf can be like you pink ...

 

Ehhh. Spoke too soon.. Went to pick up the car.. Got about 40% of the way home and she died AGAIN.. Same tow truck driver.. Im pretty sure its the alt.. Im gonna see if I can get her started again test the alt .. and I will clean those terminals too, thanks for the tip!! Im having the alt shipped overnight so it will get here Tuesday.. I have to be in VA Tuesday night!! AARRGGGG.. So, It looks like I will be doing my first alt, Ill let you guys know how well that goes!!

 

Bummer, Janna. Good luck getting it squared away. Looking forward to seeing you up here!

 

Cant wait.. I may be driving some borrowed hoopty but I will be there...

 

Frankly just seeing 14.7 volts is not enough to see if the alt is bad, as you can have a bad alt putting out 14.7 volts but not enough amperage to run the vehicle.

I do suspect the alternator as well because the battery lights on modern day cars is not there to indicate you have a low battery. The light comes on when you start the car and shuts off when alternating current is seen from the alternator. If its on an alt check ASAP is needed, and most likely a replacement.

 

GEE lone wolf your a genius >> If the car is running and you have 14.7V then frankly it is enough because of a little thing called inverse current law .. Your ckt is under load while its running and you dont get volts without amps. so if you have 14.7 volts then guess what you got amps..