its been like this for at least a week now.

the battery light suddenly went on one day so i drove the car home.

next morning, went to start the motor, batt light gone. i drove it around, parked it, turned it off. went to start it again, batt light on this time, stays on. on the way home, the radio shuts off, interior and exterior lights dim significantly. mins later, motor started idling really low and about to stall. barely made it home.

next morning, car starts up fine, no batt light. drove it around, turned it off. batt light on again after starting it up.

so after letting the car sit for awhile, and starting it up, at first the batt light would be off. but as soon as you turn the car off and turn it back on again, the batt light would go on.

i cleaned the batt posts, cleaned the ground connection on the trans, used a better battery, checked to see if alt belt is loose and symptom is still there. only thing left is alternator but i really don't wanna take it out unless its for sure, cuz i know its a bitch. is this a normal sign of an alternator on the way out ?

 

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^^

 

have the alternator tested. its less than 10 bucks at any autoshop.

also you can try to start the car then disconnect the battery to see if the car stays on or not.

 

start the car and disconnect the battery *smart*

 

maybe he means to disconnect the neg

 

i disconnected the neg from the battery and the motor didn't skip a beat. it seems to be a loose connection somewhere ? does the alternator have its own ground wire ? i checked the ground connection at the alternator and its solid, but might need a cleaning... i dunno what else to look for

 

It sounds like your alternator is going out. When the brushes start wearing too far, it sometimes can intermittently work. Running for awhile can generate heat which changes the contacts, then leaving overnight cools the metal and changes something else. Try tapping on the alternator casing with a wrench or semi-heavy metallic object a few times, this can move the brushes enough to re-make contact to work for a day or two. Give it a shot, and see what happens. If you're able, just uninstall the alternator & take it into any major parts store and they'll test it for free.

Good luck!

 

apparently the brushes can be changed for a few bucks so i'm gonna give that a shot. its just almost impossible to work underneath a car in -20 C temps so i'm hoping it'll last until the weather looks up