So ill get straight to the point. I went to start the car and there was a vibrating/arcing sound. So I figured it was the starter or a relay. So I push started it and took it to the shop. Shut it off there and when I screwed with it an hour later it was dead... Then I charges it up and got some weird ****. At full charge I'd get dim gauge lights and sometimes the radio would come on ~9volts.. Then nothing. And still nothing.

So I have screwed with the starter and now taken it out. The battery has 13.1 volts so that good. I even took the starter cable and touched it to chassis ground and got no spark.. That makes me think theres a ground issue somewhere?

I pulled the ignition switch apart and cleaned up the contacts. I noticed that there is power to it on the bat line but when I turn the key on i lose power on that wire. I need ideas.

Luckily it snowed 6 inches today so im rockin the chevy and i don't miss it to much yet lol

 

Test the battery and alternator.

 

Battery is good. I don't know why the alt would keep it from having power while it was charged. Plus I would think it was good since when I drove it to the shop it was running 13.5volts

 

What leads you to this conclusion?

This voltage reading doesn't necessarily mean the alternator is fine.

 

Because it's a month old and holds a charge (unless there is a drain on it obviously) I'll load test it anyways. But even then it has good voltage so it should work for a little bit.

The alternator shouldn't keep the whole car from having power when the battery is charged... And what indicator would mean the alt is bad? If it was running I'd check voltage and anything over 13 would make me think it was charging