My '97 car only starts with a jumpstart and doesn't start on its own. I took it to Autozone and I'm told the battery is good. If left on for some time, and then restart after few minutes (while its still warm I guess), it starts up ok however after few hrs, its requires a jump again.

Could it be the battery or an alternator? It has been quite cold in the East Coast.

 

I bet your battery is junk. If you park the car and later it won't crank or cranks slow then dies you have a battery issue. It could be caused by a faulty alt or a "draw" but it sounds like a battery. Try this, charge the battery and let the car sit with the battery cable disconnected, if the car will start after sitting disconnected you have a "draw". If when you try and start the car later (don't forget to reinstall the battery cable) it needs a jump, replace the battery.

 

alternators have nothing to do with startingg the car. that is the job of the battery. What you have sounds like either a battery that wont hold a charge or loose/coroded terminals. When you say "doesnt start" does it turn over but wont fire up or is there not enough power to actually turn the engine over?

 

bad battery. don't trust autozone kids to properly diagnose. sometimes these things can hold a charge for a few hours and test ok, then when it gets cold at night and they sit for 10 hours they discharge.

 

+4 on the bad battery. If your car is turning over but not starting then it cannot be the starter, and the alternator has nothing to do with starting the car. Try a new battery.

 

also keep in mind your cold cranking amps rating on the battery.. it's been frigid of late.

 

defintely sound like a bad battery. Consider this: You drive the car to autozone, its charging the whole way, then they test it fresh off charge . . . of course its gonna seem ok. Now if the guy from autozone came to your house in the morning and tested it after it had been sitting all night and it still tested fine, thats another story. Just spend 70 bucks on a new one and you'll be fine.

 

battery issue. i bet the reason autozone said it was good was cause when u drove there the alt charged it up then you had them test it right when u get there so it would still be at 13v.

 

Actually when I drove it there, it wasn't fully charged. They had to charge it up and it came as good. Battery isn't that old so I don't know what else could be wrong!

 

unless you live around the corner from Autozone, there is no reason it should have needed a charge by the time you got there. Batteries fail because of age but even a brand new battery will not be able to hold a charge if it is left dead for too long or too many times.

 

sorry boys to disagree but the altenator has very much to do with starting the car
the altenators biggest drain is on initial startup because the battery has lost its surface charge.
also altenators when faulty will create a 'draw' when the car is turned off which willdrain the battery.

 

do you even know what you are talking about? alternators can not create a "draw" since there is no component in it that uses current for anything.

and as for "the altenators biggest drain is on initial startup because the battery has lost its surface charge." that just makes no sense whatsoever.

Battery starts the car, Alt kees it going. A car with a full battery and no alt will start and run until the car has died. It will shut off once the batt is dead or has been disconnected. the only kind of "draw" an alt could ever create would be some sort of short circuit within the unit and that is rare.

 

yes I do know what I'm talkin about. battery starts and runs the car, the altenator keeps the charge up on the battery, thats all. And because the battery loses its surface charge after sitting, the altenator is working the hardest at that point to get it back up to the proper voltage. and an altenator causing a draw is not as rare as you seem to think, a simple overheat of the alt can cause a alternate discharge instead of a charge, and because it's hooked up to the battery, AND GROUND it will discharge a battery when sitting, but may function fine when running.
Do some research and then tell me I'm wrong.
And how do you figure that there are no components in an altenator that use current??? do you know how an altenator works? do you think it gets current from never never land? how does it charge the battery? with its magic wand?

 

an alt discharge? newsflash, alts do not store a charge so there is nothing to discharge. and again, the battery starts the car, not the alt. so your "surface charge" theory is misinformation. let me guess the "down deep" charge works with the alt to start the car right? and a "simple overheating"?

 

dude you are fuakin clueless i dont know why I'm even bothering trying to explain this
and I didnt say they 'store a charge' but its hooked up to a battery that does. do you even know what surface charge is on a battery???

 

no. battery STARTS the car, alternator charges the battery therefore the alternator RUNS the car. and yes, right when you start the car the alternator works its hardest to charge the battery back up, but thats cause starting it takes a lot of Volts.

EDIT:

it creates a magnetic field around windings which charges the battery.

 

i know horse manure when i see it. i'll make sure to watch where i step when you type.

 

The altenator charges(runs) the battery which runs the car. The altenator does not run the car. if you had enough batteries you could run a vehicle without an altenator at all.

 

go take an automotive associates degree program and theyll tell you the alternator keeps the car running and the battery is used to start it. without an alternator you can not run a car for more than a few minutes.


EDIT: didnt see the "if you had enough batteries" part....but assuming you did have 25 batteries, where do you plan on putting them? i hope youre not planning on breaking 60 either. and eventually, they WILL all die, and you will need to replace/charge them ALL. thanks but ill let my alternator RUN MY CAR and charge my battery for me.

and:

i think what youre refering to is a parcidic draw...which does drain the battery. it can happen from more than just the alt. but if the alt was draining the battey, the dead battery is still the reason the car wont start. not the bad alt. which means alt needs to be replaced and battery would need to be either charged or replaced.

 

man you cant be serious. Do you even own a car? have you ever put air in yoru own tires? If you had enough batteries you could drive the car until the batteries died. If you have an alternator you can drive the car until you run out of gas or until something breaks because the alternator is providing the power for the radio, widows etc and most importantly the spark needed to run the car. I have people who make stupid statements trying to sound smart without thinking of who they may be fooling into falling for their nonsense.

 

TunerMaxima3000, you have no clue what you are talking about.

You could take the battery out of the car, (once it's started) and it will run. Visa Versa will not work.

And you just got with your 00VI thread

 

thats all correct except for the altenator running the car. not that its not possible for it to do so if its powerfull enough and has a cell to run, but like i said you can run a car without an altenator. I had my alternator completely disconnected and ran the car on a fully charged bat for a good 40mins to the Alt shop I go to. surprised me even that it ran that long. but the cars electrical is run off of the battery NOT the altenator.

 

for people like this dude someone should put "make it so everyone has to take a simple 15 question test and get atleast an 80 to beable to give answers to peoples questions" or something in that thread on how to improve the forums. damn....

 

whatever be thickheaded. You can run a vehicle off the battery. as long as the circuits are connected throughout, the car will run till the battery dies. try it. then lip me off. dont just assume you're right.

 

YOURE NOT HEARING US! YOU CAN START THE CAR WITH JUST THE BATTERY BUT IT WILL DIE WITHOUT AN ALTERNATOR. wow you drove for 40 minutes woohoo man you got a battery that can hold a charge.

Q: if you can run a F*cking car without and alternator WHY ARE THEY THERE?? just for looks? cause they accidently made belts too long so they needed to add another pully? tell me im curious to know....

 

thats what weve been saying you meathead! you just kept disagreeing and saying batteries run the car!

 

I'm saying basically:
the battery starts the car, then the altenator runs the battery which runs the car, simple really.
I dont really understand the argument and insults everything I've said is true, maybe I havent worded it perfect but all true.
and you CAN run a car on JUST the battery, if you argue with me about that you're an idiot, obiously you wouldnt, thats why cars have alternators.

 

no. the battery starts the car, the alternator CHARGES the battery so that the car can stay running. aka, the alternator runs the car. i wish i had my electrical book ide find it and take a picture of where it says that.

you CAN run it on just a battery, but thats not good for your battery and its only for a short period of time.

 

we are basically agreeing here so I dont understand the argument. the alt runs the bat which runs the car. the charge and voltage is in the bat, not the alt, so like you said ' why do they bother putting an alternator in the car', then if the alt runs the car, why bother puttin a bat in?? basically one runs the other, end of arguement.

 

Ok i see you are slightly so i will break it down for you.

the primary purpose of an alternator is to provide the electricity neede by the car to keep running. It doesnt "run the battery". there is no such thing as "running a battery. the second purpose of the alternator is to replace the charge lost in the battery during starting.

The Primary purpose of a battery is to provide the needed current to start the car before the alternator can take over. the secondry purpose is to act as a buffer between the alternator and the car by minimizing voltage fluctuations. when your car is driving down the street it is running off of the power produced by the alternator not the battery. If the alternator were to die, at that point the car would begin to use the power from the battery.

now i know you are yourself right now since you have realized how moronic the things you were typing are. Do yourself a favor and instead of trying to save face, take some notes.

 

ok heres what im trying to say.

BY THE BOOK: the battery is there to start the car. yes the battery will allow the car to run for a short period of time BUT it NEEDS the alt to stay running. without and alt the car would die, aka NOT RUN. without a battery the car could not start.

so you need a battery to start it and an alternator to run it.

and stop saying the alt 'runs' the battery, it charges it. lol...

 

what 2damizzax said

 

I hope you feel tough 2da mizzax
good of you to 'break it down' for me.
You are correct I'm not arguing that, but you are saying the same thing I am, I just said the alt runs the battery as a basic statement. obiously the alternator doesnt 'run' the battery.

 

We are obviously NOT saying the same thing. although I am glad you learned something new today.

 

well honestly then next time say what you mean. cause i was getting hung up with the 'alt runs battery' thing too. when talking about cars and trying to diagnosis, its importent to accuratly communicate what youre trying to say.