the car is running pretty good, for 266k miles.
i just changed my battery a few days ago. the old one was abou 4 years old.

had no issues, car starts, all elec works. but the battery and brake light came on tonight and stayed on.
no other problems?

 

Sounds like your altenator is bad. If you have a voltmeter, check the voltage while the car is running. It should be around 14.5 volts. If the voltage is only 12, then the altenator is not charging. Or take the car someplace like autozone that will check it for you.

 

Awesome reply!

 

Damn it. I just replaced my high dollar deep cycle battery. Never thought of it ya know. It lasted a while, oh well. Will check tonight. Thanks.

 

And as I have read, the car has a whine to it also. I see that alternators whine too.

 

The whine would most likely be a bearing going bad. That would not stop the altenator from charging, at least until the bearing totally self destructs and physically destroys the altenator.

Its also possible that it is not an altenator bearing making the noise. Don't assume - diagnose.