SkyeC

Had a little incident of a wrench hitting the starter while it was out last night - with the battery still hooked up, and the wrench ending up melting/smoking a bit and when everything was put together and we went to start the car, the battery was down to 2.xx volts. It started up with a jump start.

At idle, the clock is lightly flickering, when I rev it, it revs sort of slowly off idle and the tach needle is sort of jumpy. The car also feels like it wants to die when you let off but doesn't quite get there. Parking/tails also flicker a bit if you rev it up and let off.

The alternator belt is tight, btw.

Voltage regulator? Alternator in general? Battery?

...

elevatethis

if you are having problems like that while the car is running, its most likely the alternator. And if your battery was drained, it means that 1) it could be bad too or and most likely 2) your alternator is calling it quits ie. not recharging your battery, not powering the accessories, lights, etc.

Go to NAPA and get one of the dudes to come out with this meter that they hook up to the terminals on your battery...it measures everything in your electrical system and they'll be able to say exactly whats wrong.

SkyeC

Car isn't particularly driveable in this configuration, I'm going to take the battery down and see if I can get the warranty to cover it, though. If the battery doesn't solve it, I'll get a new alternator, I guess.

Hatchtrap

Im sure its the alternator.. and any autozone will charge your battery for free!

SkyeC

fwiw, it was my battery.