Battery Alternator Help Please!

[tireman]

Car 01V6 114k, battery new in 2008. Alternator original. Hot weather, stop and go traffic, battery charge light comes on, stays on, then later abs light, and battery is drained car dies. Get the car back home, remove battery recharge it and alternator,,,,,have both checked at autozone, both pass good. Put them back in. Drive for two weeks no problem, then hot day, stop and go traffic, dash lights start coming on, abs, charging, etc. pull off road stop car, battery drained, cannot start car,,,have to tow it home!

first time charging light came on and went on and off, then on
2nd time, no charging light until i pulled the car off the road but battery drained.
Southern car no rust, everything looks ok, runs like a dream.

Never had this problem before. any clues which could help?????
car is all stock parts nothing added or changed....

 

[LS4me]

Alternator is failing, IMHO.

 

[Andrizzle]

alternator or battery.

Also check the alt belt.

 

[cammerfe]

I've had much the same experience with my '02 V-8. I'm on my 4th alternator, and second battery. Latest time, now at 142K miles, so far, so good. With the last work, I also installed an Auto Meter Voltmeter so I can continuously monitor.
KS

I replaced the battery because it was about time to do so. And it does a battery no good at all to drain it completely.

 

[joegr]

It's the alternator, or the wiring to it. It's not a "battery" light. It's an alternator light. Problems with the battery will not trigger the light. Certain problems with the alternator will.

 

[tireman]

Thanks all!

My neighbor is a mechanic, we hooked a voltmeter to the battery terminals then started the car (after I recharged the battery). We watched the VOM reading constantly decline. Then we put a load on the battery,,,,a/c, lights on, radio, and we continued to watch the VOM reading decline,,,,so we hit the throttle up to 2500 rpm to kick in the alternator,,,,and nothing happened,,,,the VOM reading continued to decline.......so I have a completely different result from two weeks ago when we did the same test,,,,then the alternator kicked on and charged the battery.........ok, one of two choices, 1st wiring to alternator, or alternator itself. I'm believing its the alternator. Sunday I'm putting in a new one.

 

[FASTLLS]

It's the alternator, or the wiring to it.

That would be my guess if the alt and batt checked out a ok.. Maybe corrosion in the wires causing a high resistance and not letting the batt charge..

 

[1LoudLS]

Maybe corrosion in the wires causing a high resistance and not letting the batt charge..

definitely check the wiring as you put the new alt in.

 

[Andrizzle]

If I were you I would go ahead and put in a HO and upgrade the wire...

If you ever plan to run extra electrical it would be a good time.

 

[FASTLLS]

If I were you I would go ahead and put in a HO and upgrade the wire...

Then this would defiantly rule out the Alt and wiring. Plus you'll have the extra power if you add stereo equipment and what not.

Could the electric fan be drawing too much power? Because he said that it only happens when he's in stop and go traffic.. Just throwing that out there..

EDIT: NVM.. I just re-read and it's 1st gen..

 

[tireman]

The results are in!

removed the old alternator, put in the new one, autozone duralast reman.

fired up the engine, with meter on battery

meter goes to 14.38 volts right away, and fluctuates around this number.

car runs fine now, no problems.................................

this car is in Atlanta GA. rust free, wiring in great shape, saw snow once a few years back. they don't rust down here, no corrosives. good roads too.

thanks all!

Joegr wins again!

 

[1LoudLS]

Joegr wins again!

not to take anything away from joe's dead on right answer as usual, but LS4ME did call it first and it only took him 11 minutes


BTW i would slap the fool at autozone who did the test the first time with the bad alt right in the face.

 

[FASTLLS]

BTW i would slap the fool at autozone who did the test the first time with the bad alt right in the face.

I would too. Your tests are always better. You could see what it is actually doing. Good job on getting it running back to normal. Did you change the alt but yourself? Easy/Hard?

 

[LS4me]

autozone duralast reman.

Plan on another replacement in a year or so. I have had nothing but lousy service from chain auto parts store's (NAPA excluded) re-manufactured units. They are cheap for a reason, IMHO.

Of course, YMMV.

 

[tireman]

Sorry LS4ME

Yes, you did get it right first! Sorry about that. Joegr was working on a previous posting about the same subject, so he got the credit. Anyway enough said,,,,you're all great at repairs.

Yes I did the work myself, on the V6 its way too easy. 3 bolts, turn alt on its side, remove cable nut, pull off control clip, drop out. of course you must remove belt first......

Cheap atl? Damn those remans are $230!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But when you need one right away, you take what they have,,,,,lifetime warranty tho...

Thanks one and all!