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So I brought my new girl home yesterday. Very happy except for one thing. I have to jump her off. Had the battery tested today--it's good.
Checked my neg. cable for possible ground issue--seems good. I replaced the cable ends.
It's odd because I can jump her off and she runs fine but not showing any voltage on the gauge on dash. When I turn her off she usually cranks right back up but if she sits for a few minutes no go.
Any thought would be appreciated. My thinking is if the alt. was bad she would not stay running--right?
If you started with a fully charged battery, the car would start and run with a dead alternator, until the charge on the battery dies. Recently had this problem with my sons car when it quit on him on the road. Swapped the battery out of my wife's car, and had enough charge to get it home. Alternator was indeed dead.
Start it up & pull off one of the battery cables. If it keeps running, alternator is good. If it dies, alternator is toast.
Don't do this on a newer comp. controlled car, but this is a fine test for the older machinery.
When I turn her off she usually cranks right back up but if she sits for a few minutes no go.
Any thought would be appreciated. My thinking is if the alt. was bad she would not stay running--right?
Let me see if I have this straight: You charge the battery and it starts and runs. Then, you turn the car off. If you start right away again, it will start, but leave it sitting and the battery is pretty much dead. If I have that right, it stretches the imagination to think that you DON'T have a short circuit. If you have a service manual, there should be a diagnosis procedure in there for finding it. I forget the ins and outs of it off the top of my head, but it should be pretty easy using a multimeter to figure out which fuse the short circuit is on. I would also check to make sure the starter isn't shorting.
I put anew neg. cable and it seems to be ok. Gauge on the dash is reading and it started after sitting for two hours. Hope all is well.
Thanks for the replies
i was about to say check the neg cable.... i had an issue 2 years ago with a bad -cable and it fried my radio and a few other things.... 700bucks later i was ok... i replaced alot of things and then found the -cable being bad....live/learn