Hello,

My battery light started flicking off about a week ago. No other symptoms other than it would go off and on. Eventually my car began to turnover slow so I could tell the battery was, in fact, dying.

I tested the alternator after charging the battery and it was putting out 13-14 volts at idle. So i started to drive around again and sure enough the battery light came on again.

I noticed the battery light would stop coming on at idle. So for some reason while i'm driving (not idling) my battery is discharging.

What can I do to figure out this problem?

 

check battery cables..

 

Im guessing that when it spins up its not making any charge. have someone in the car and have them push on the gas to about 3-4 RPM's and see what its comming out at.

 

the cables are firmly on the terminals of the battery and the battery is a month old.

Thanks for the insight though.

 

Put a volt meter on your battery with the car off, it should read 12v, start the car, it should go up to 14v, if not your alternator is not doing its job

 

yes, I should have tested it while revving it. I will do that and follow up.

 

What is the EXACT reading between 13 and 14 volts? When it comes to an alternator there is a big difference between a 13.3 and a 13.8.

 

battery read 13-14v at idle

 

How tight is the belt ?

 

SAME PROBLEM HERE...............CHANGED ALTERNATOR FIXED IT!

 

heh,

figured as much,

thanks

 

tighten your altenator belt.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by boosted_hatch_216 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">tighten your altenator belt. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Thats what I was thinking, as I mentioned it above. Wonder if it is loose

 

sounds like your battery needs some...

 

I would check all the grounds, Mine did the Same thing, it was a Combination of a faulty ground wire on the frame and, the charge wire on my altenater loosened up. Didnt notice the charge wire till i fixed the ground and, then the charge wire basicaly burned the rest of the way off.

 

Rev the engine to ~2800 rpms and check battery to see if the alternator is charging.