I have a 90 GXE and had some real bad trouble with it this weekend. It started out dead when we tried to drive it, ended up buying a new battery and it seemed good to go. But on the way back to school the sterio and windows started to crap out, and about two hours into the trip it stalled out with a dead battery. Got a jump and it ran for about another half hour, enough to make it o school where it died once again. I believe it is my altinator, and really hope it is as simple as that. Anyone with ideas want ot help me out. Thanks

 

Take it to autozone or pepboys and they will run a test for free. It sounds like your alternator crapped out. You might also want to clean your battery terminals and connections really good. If those get enough corrosion on them, it will prevent your charging system from working right.

 

if your battery went dead that quick, u might want ti check the grounding on the stereo if its gettin crappy too.

this happened in my 84 C10 and it turns out hat i just had a really bad ground on the radio

 

it worked as long as it did because that was how charged up the battery was. Does your battery light work on your dash?

 

Sounds like a typical alternator problem. Mine went out this weekend and acted the same way. First my radio died, then the engine lost power, then it died altogether. Funny thing is I just changed my alternator two months ago, Sh!++y
rebuilds!!

 

Kinda off topic, but does anyone know how to prevent you battery from getting corrosion. Mine seems to get pretty corroed from time to time and I'm getting sick of having to clean it off.

 

sure... don't tighten the posts so tight that they break the seal around them and leak.

once they start leaking, there's not much you can do..
try to clean it off and seal around them with RTV, but it'll only help for a little while.
After that, just cleaning them is all you can do.

 

Crap, guess I just need to buy a new battery.

 

Gjohnson, i looked on your cardomain site but couldnt find it, what kind of rims do you have and what size?

 

All you have to do is click the www at the bottom of my sig.
By the way they are Enkei RSF-2's, 17's with nitto 450 extreme's.

 

a couple more options:
corrosion washer: Little felt things that go under the batters post cable.
Spray on battery protectant helps prevent corossion too.

 

Thanks guys, I'll see if I can salvage my posts. Because those things are even getting corrosion in my fuse block for my system.

 

it is commonly known, too, that coca-cola removes battery corrosion.

check your battery connector cables for fraying or fatigue. and make sure the negative references to the engine block ground post. a prior owner or mechanic may have improvised.

i had the same problem a few months back. i kept the battery and alternator business really busy. all for a simple, overlooked, problem.

and i had a 'disabled' amp under the passenger seat, connected to the battery, that was not really disabled. and it was creating this micro-drain. over time, it just f***ked my electrical system. and the alternator was where the 'buck stopped' - or began - depending on how you look at it.