Okay things are getting better. now im realizing i own a corvette Lately i start the car and get a bit of dimmed /dark dome lights and the ol- er er er er voeeeeeerrrrooooommmm! turn the car off and try to start it again and its a bit slower. very first start in the morning is a bit better. my volt guage reads at the white line before the red before the 18volts


now i know of threee things i can check

1, is the alt working (voltage regulator)
2. is the (die hard c-16 version age unknown but does have a green circle decal with 1/07 on it) battery good
3. is the starter and solonoid good.
4. not heatsoak as the car is only in the garage and not driven fully warmed up

i think i have an idea of what the problem is but
Guys tell me from the symptoms above first thing you would think is the problem. here we go again er er er er veeeerrrrroooommm

 

You're on the right track. Take the alternator and battery to an auto parts store and have them charge / test the battery and load test the alternator. If you have a local starter / alternator shop I suggest you have the alt checked there where they are a bit more thorough.

If both check out, you can look into battery wiring, alternator wiring, and things like frame and engine grounds.

 

durango -- right off would you say by the starting problem that the battery is low?

 

Yes, or the battery power is having a hard time getting to the starter via bad connections or bad cables. However, if it's just because the battery is low it might be because the alternator is not charging it. It may also be a bad battery. It may also be bad wiring to the alternator, causing it not to charge, causing the battery to drain, causing hard starts.

Lots of options.

 

yup you hit all of the above that i was thinking. ive ruled out the starter being bad. the symtoms lead to a low battery problem and like you said could be regulator, cables, battery itself. just really wanted to confirm.

 

The first really cold nights in the Fall are a true test for a battery that is getting old. Check the battery voltage with a voltmeter (Digital) and if it's not 12.5 or better, charge it. You can load test it with a hand held load tester if you can borrow one. They usually put a 100 amp load on the battery for a short period of time. The hand held unit is good for a marginal battery. An AVR tester is better because you can load test the battery at either half the CCA or 3 times the amp hour rating. The CCA or cold cranking amperage is usually written on the battery. If things were fine until the weather started getting colder, I would suspect the battery, especially if it's at the end of the warranty period (48 Months?).

 

I work part time at Advance and with the weather getting colder, we see a lot of people coming in to replace the batteries. I have run quite a few system tests on vehicles over the last few months and have found that better than 50% of the electrical issues were due to corrosion at the terminals. Sometimes the corrosion will be under the insulation where you cant see it and will cause problems. Just a plug for the store...we do check batteries, starters, and alt. free. The batter check Project is talking about is one we do with our hand-held tester. It checks load/no load conditions. It is pretty reliable as far as results go. Being an electronics guy in the Navy, I always check things 2 or 3 times before I call it bad. Just my 2 pennies worth.

 

The hand held tests at a fixed rate and will certainly let you know if a marginal battery is bad. At the end of the time period that the tester load is switched on, the voltage should not go below about 9.5 voltages at around 65-70 degrees. The larger, more expensive AVR tester can be set to test at higher amperage loads that the hand held.
For most people the hand held is great.
johnwiltfongjr gave some good advice, have the battery tested

 

okay doing some reading on here ive noticed the alternator grounds to the bracket. i actually about 3 weeks ago painted my alt bracket so this also may be a cause.

here is todays observations

38 degrees out. hit the gas once turned the key and the car started strong! like brand new.

let it run for about 3 minutes. turned it off restarted and it turned over a little slow.

ran it till the high idle went down to 600 rpm turned the car off. turned it back on and it started just a bit slow not strong like at first.

volt meter shows up into red by 18. put on the headlights and it drops a bit, but not much if i rev the gas the headlights get brighter along with dash and interior lights. my low rpms are at 600.

if i turn on the headlights and the rear defroster it goes down to just 13 volts. (just a test)

the car has been driven maybe 6 miles since September seeing its not registered yet. its been in and out of the garage and started and driven round the block like i said maybe a total of 6 miles since. if i let it sit for days i can still go out and have dome lights and start it. (does not appear to be a drain anywhere) could it be a simple problem of the car not being driven and therfore the alternator not charging the battery?

but back to battery testing. say i bring the battery in and its already low. wont the test show that its bad then anyways?

 

The battery needs to be charged to 12.6v before being load tested. The auto parts store usually cycles a short charge before testing. Call and ask their procedure.

OK, so the car is not on the road and you keep starting it up without taking it for a long ride to recharge the battery. The battery really doesn't get charged up when sitting at an idle. If your battery passes a load test, I would consider buying a Battery Tender that will keep it charged without overcharging. This is considering you cleaned all the connections, checked the alternator amperage/voltage output, etc..