after reading/researching for a little while now, i figured i should get some interactive help.

The last 2 days i've gone to my car and it wont start, battery is pretty new and the alternator is a little bit newer than the battery. Everything points to my alternator being crap, but its so new! I ran my battery charger on it, and did an alternator check and it said "fault". Can anyone think of anything else it could be, or is it 100% my alternator. IE: plugs (all secured), fuses, etc...

TIA

 

Autozone does free charging system checks and battery checks on the car. They also will do the following off the car: starter, alternator, battery.

 

Thanks, I charged my battery for a few hours yesterday, and this morning it started up fine. I was just trying to avoid removing my alternator, because it's such a pain in the *** doing it in my garage.

If my alternator was faulty, I think I'd know it, which makes me think it's something else. When it wouldn't start the other morning i noticed that the big ground attached to my starter, was touching the metal right next to it, which might have been some sort of problem, because whenever i saw them touch it sparked.

 

If you have a VOM then you could check voltage at the battery (if not get one at sears for 10 bucks if you can very good tool to have while working on electrical problems) while the car is running should be in the range of 13.2-14.0 volts depending on how low the battery is.

VOM= Volt Ohm Meter

Also do you have an amp hooked up to the battery? Could be a constant draw on the battery and cause it to go dead over night.

 

how are the grounds under the hood? My brother went through 3 alternators before finding out his BATTERY ground was loose! Check the obvious. Are you getting a battery light in the dash?

If anything sparked, the contact is not good enough. Scrape the metal until it does not spark. Make sure all the grounds are there and not naked (i.e. have their insulator not chaffed)

 

to see if the alternato is good remove one of the cables on the battery and it should run if its good but if its bad it will shut off