ok, my car won't start at all without a jump.

not even a jumpstarter will start the car, i have to jump it to another car in order to start it.

anyways, i know is either the battery or alternator, but how do i know which?

these are the symptoms:

When car is off, before jumpstart:

-There's so little power, only some of the lights work.

-When i turn key to acc no lights come on

-When i turn my key to ON, all the lights go completelly out

After i jumpstart the car:

-My Eclipse headunit keeps turning on and off

-Lights dim a little bit

-My fog hids hesitate to turn on

-As soon as i turn off car, there's no power in the car unless i jump it again.
This means my alarm is not activated once i turn off car.

the alarm issue is the reason i don't even bring my car out at the moment.

My car has 100k miles, alternator never been changed.

battery is a Yellow top i bought used last year.

i don't know if it's just me, but so far i had bad expeirences with yellow tops.

This is my third yellow top in 2 years.

somehow these suckers keep goign out on me.

i do blast my sytem form time to time, but i only got 2 subs with 2 amps, not a big deal, just cheap subs.

now, i don't know if i should change the battery or the alternator, or both.

 

Check all your connections first, a ground somewhere might be loose, and the drive your car to AutoZone or something and they can check both your battery and alternator while they are in your car, for free.


Also don't believe any idiot that tells you your battery is good after testing it with the car on, he/she is an idiot all they did was test the alternator. I just recently had someone do this to me that wouldn't believe me when I told him I had to turn the car off in order for him to properly check the battery, went down the road to the next autozone, bad battery the guy was an idiot.

 

my 2 yrs. yellow top died on me this Monday...............

 

NYGhettoGLE,

Definitely take a trip down to your local Autozone or similar and get hook up on their machine and they will check which of the two is the culprit.

 

That sound like a battery issue to me, the battery sends current to the starter, once it's started, the alternator takes over by supplying the electronics of the car with the power it needs, while sending a little bit of juice back to the battery to make up for the charge loss when starting the car.

Oh yeah, if you have a system, I would invest in a good capacitor for your amps, It's a hell of a lot easier on your car's electrical supply, especially the battery. Maybe that is why they keep dying on you?

 

i have the same problem with my 2000GLE, the battery was fine yesterday, no sign of getting weak but today no juice. I had to get a jump start. I had the car running for an hour to charge the battery but when I turned the car off the same thing. While the car is running all electric and electronic system work fine. What do you guys think it is?

 

bad alternator that isnt fully charging battery.

 

be careful of the few idiots at autozone. My car wasn't starting unless it was jumped. So I went to Autozone to test the battery. I disconnected it for the test and they said it had a bad cell. Paid $70 for a new one and installed it in the lot and still no start. The same fool said it "must" be the starter . They actually gave me a hard time on returning the battery I never left the lot with. Well my "bad cell" battery is doing just fine. My advice would be to have them check all three items, battery, altenator, and starter. Get it done at more the one Autozone if you can.

 

its got to be a bad alternator....probably isnt even charging the battery...Im on my first yellowtop and so far i havent had any issues AT ALL (EXCEPT THE location of the battery terminals)

 

id go with a bad alternator.... do u have a volt meter? jump the car again check voltage at battery, it should be around 14 volts(13.5-14.5) and if no volt meter...start the car disconnect the negative battery post....if your car runs still its your battery, if it dies imediatly its your alternator..... but really going by what u said the car does, id go with an alternator.(assuming your connections are okay)... i had to replace mine at 110k....... and since u have a system, screw a cap, id shop around for a bigger amp alternator(your replacing it anyways, might as well even if does cost more)....i bought mine off ebay for i think about the same cost or less a reman was gonna cost me.......

 

If you have a battery charger then charge your battery to a full charge and have the battery tested. You need the battery fully charged to get a good reading on the battery. If the battery isn't fully charged it will usually fail a test.

 

when your alternator dies, your parking break light and and battery light stay lit up.... if you dont see that then most likely your battery is dead