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So I'm gonna post this both in here and in Lincoln Continental. I have a 95 Continental. Yesterday I went to go to the store and my battery was dead. I figured no biggy my old lady drove it last so maybe she just left something on. So I jump it and notice nothing besides the radar detector was left on but I leave that on accidently all the time over night and it doesn't pull enough juice to drain the battery. So I start to drive off and my dash lights start going out so i put it in neutral and rev it to like 3k RPMS and it starts to charge. Everything gets real bright again. So I go to take off and there it goes again. Lights flickering and it starts to stall. So I stop and do the rpm things again and it comes back to life. I decided that maybe with all the factory crap trying to run that maybe the alternator can't push enough juice to run the car and charge the battery. So I take off. As I'm leaving my complex it starts to die so I pull back in. I go to my garage and take the Positive cable off the battery and it stayed running. Kinda coughing and stuttering. But it ran with no battery.......So I take the battery out and put it in my other car. Jump it off. Drive it for a couple of minutes. And what do you know it's holding a charge. So I'm stumped. What could this be?? Is it the alternator on it's last leg or something else. Besides the battery. If anyone know what's up please help. I'm to broke to take it to the shop right now and I need her to go to work. Sorry about rambling on and on but I want to be thorough. Anyways help please! Thanks.....
Posted by: Pepsi2185
Check your system voltage. When your driving put a meter on the cigarette lighter or something and monitor voltage. My vote is for the alternator. IF the voltage regulator quit, it would only be supplying 12 volts. Enough to run the vehicle but not very well. 10 is about the threshold for the digital dash and things of that nature. Pull the alternator, take it up to murrays or autozone for a free alternator check to make sure.
