dead battery or alternator?
 

I've been storing my maxima all summer, and the other day I wanted to fire it up. Battery was completely dead. I thought it was normal as I left the battery hooked up all summer. I jumped the car and it started. I let it run for a while and about 10 minutes in I went inside to get a drink. When I came back out the car was turned off, it died on its own. Battery was completely dead just like it was before I jumped it. Does this mean my battery is completely dead, or do I have a bad alternator on my hands. The battery is like 2 years old, but the car sits every summer.
Im going to get the battery tested this weekend but thought id see what you guys thought.

Jump it, put a meter on the battery and see if it's charging.

Pretty simply, really.

It's possible the battery is shot and will no longer take a charge.

i think if ur alternastor is bad u get lights on the dash. test the battery and go from there

yeah both brake and battery lights

you probably need a new battery, since you've mentioned you store/park the car all summer you should atleast sartit one to two times a week for 10 15mins to avoid this every year...

voltmeter
 

Test it with a voltmeter, its too expensive to guess at bad parts.

your battery might be the first thing to check, it simple and cheaper. mostl likely it is you battery since you dont start it all summer, but you should start it once a week, not only to charge your battery but to also let everything in your cycle-this is to ensure nothing will go bad and neither will the gas become stale by sitting inside. Remembr a car driven arnd everyday for even a minute is better than a car tat never moves.

Every car has some sort of parasitic drain to keep things like the memory in the clock going; even though it's small, overtime it adds up. Since you let this thing sit for such a long time, it's possible that it pulled all the electrical capacity from the battery and potentially damaged it if it sat dead for a long time. Lead-acid batteries are great in that they last awhile, but only if you can keep them properly charged. If they sit discharged, it gets damaged. I'd say replace the battery and if you plan on storing it again, disconnect the battery and consider a trickle charger/battery tender every once in awhile.

i believe its the atl and MAYBE a bad battery as well

once a car is started it runs off the ATL

so once he jumped it, it ran until the battery was totally drained

so if he charges the battery, starts the car, disconnects the battery and the car shuts down the ATL or charging system is bad