At first I thought my alternator was bad again but I have since replaced it and had the battery charged, and told it was good. Something must be not causing the alternator to charge the battery or draining the battery severly...what happens is the car runs for a while....then starts to sputter and eventually just dies....battery becomes dead. I unplugged the stereo thinking it might be putting some load on the batt, thus draining but still the same result. I had the battery charged yesterday and it was said to be good so I'm kinda stuck...please help!

 

So once the car died, what did you do to get it running again?

Is your battery connectors clean? If they're dirty, it's possible for the alternator to be working yet can't charge the battery. Happened to me with my old car. Try cleaning the battery posts with baking soda solution, or even replace them altogether. One tell-tale symptom that points to this being the problem would be if you have a hard time jumpstarting the car, as if currents won't flow from the other car's battery into your own battery. Which is precisely the case.

 

Jumping the car is not a problem and that is what I do e'erytime it dies to get it running again. I don't understand it myself. It also might be possible that the battery is giving a false reading of being good when in fact its bad, but it was checked and deemed good. I'm truly at a loss as to what the problem could be. I replace the alternator today, but tomorrow I'll put in a battery that I know is good and see what happens.

 

If the new battery doesnt do it you might have a parasitic drain somewhere. Maybe a aftermarket add-on that is sucking power with the battery off. That might be the problem. Try unplugging all your aftermarket stuff and see if the battery stays charged. If it does then reconnect them one by one over a couple of days to see what happens.

 

Have you had your charging system tested? Most any car shop can do this. Some auto parts store even do this for free. This would tell you if there's any problem at all with your alternator or battery. You ought to do this before replacing the altenator! It might still be good!

 

So what was the verdict on the problem? I was thinking drain too but that would more likeley effct the battery when the car is on. I seem to be having this same peoblem and it's too damn cold to work on the car right now. I have an Optima Yellow Top and a battery charger and I just charge it when i get to my destination. but this is getting annoying. But as long as I don't travel far so this will hold me over till I get the problem fixed.

 

I think its still possible the altenator.
inside the altenator is the regulator and the diode bridge,so
this is almost your hwole charge system.
If you drive and your car will stop something is wrong with
the charge system.
what you can do to see if your altenator is charging the battery
is to buy a test probe ,hwo tells you if your battery is charged.
i had one in my car because sometimes the car stopped and the battery
was drained when i was driving.
i brought my altenator two times for a check .one time they
tested it for more as one hour and they said it was oke.
the third time it was tested they found out it sometimes malfunctioned,the diode bridge was the problem.
i bought an altenator at the junk ,before i put it in have it tested ,the regulator had to be changed and now everything is oke.

 

Intersting, I guess I'll go with my plan to just change it out. Good info dude.

 

the problem was the f-ing alternator...I got 3 bad ones...(how often does that happen?) but I finally got a good one and had the battery charged and everything has been running fine since.

thanx.

TIP: *always check the damn alternator!* the 2nd one was putting out 2volts!

 

Glad you got that fixed. I expected that to be the problem. I'l do mine as soon as I have time.