Battery or Alternator

[extozy]

the battery light on my dash comes on when the cars is off, and it wont keep a charge... what could it be other than the battery and the alternator.

i do have an alarm, but it has never drained it down before? what would be the best alternator to put on the car though, that is about 140 to 160 amp?

 

[TIMMY2734]

take a multimeter and see how many volts you get with the car off and hten with the car running. you should get about 12.7 and 14.4 respectively.

As for which alternator, i like alterstarts from Ebay and youve also got PA Performance

 

[Black331Stang]

In my opinion there is no way to tell unless u run a specific test. I had this same problem a month ago and everyone told me alt alt alt, so i ran the tests, tests pointed to alt as well. I said screw it and brought teh old as stocker to autozone and had the test it (free) and sure enough she was pumping 14V. Battery was just drawn so low (under a volt lol). Anyway, i recommend theactual test on teh alt itself, like bringing it to your autostore. I would also recommend a 3g alt if your upgrading.

TIMMY -- so those Alterstarts are treating u well?? im looking into their starter now, prolly what im gonna get. How much was their alt?

 

[hllon4whls]

the battery light on my dash comes on when the cars is off, and it wont keep a charge... what could it be other than the battery and the alternator.

i do have an alarm, but it has never drained it down before? what would be the best alternator to put on the car though, that is about 140 to 160 amp?

Before you blow big money on an alt, check things out. Do what timmy says.

Then check the car for current drain with everything off and the doors shut (dome light). You get a test light, then take ONE battery cable off the battery. Take the test clip on the test light and attach it to the battery cable. With the pointed part of the light, put that on the open battery post. If it lights, you have current drain which is what is killing your bat.

You can have a friend turn on the headlights to make ssure that you ahve the test light in the right config.

 

[TIMMY2734]

Ive had no problems all winter. My battery is in the trunk and its only 2 guage wiring. Car starts right up. Ive got both the starter and alternator. Dont remember how much though