Help Please! Charging Problem.

[Clean95Lincoln]

So I'm gonna post this both in here and in non model-Electrical. 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 stay 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.....

 

[big ed]

Sears will often diagnose a problem, like failing alternator, for no charge. How's the belt &/or the idler pulley, either one, by slipping or not providing enought tension, could contribute to the problem. Just thinking, good luck, Ed

 

[DouglasABaker]

If your vehicle is coughing/sputtering without any load at all (ie. no a/c, headlights, etc) then your alternator is likely not putting out enough amperage for the vehicle.

Think of it this way - normally you can leave your car idling until your fuel tank goes dry without any coughing/etc since your alternator is making enough juice to run the engine and charge the battery.

As the previous post indicated, your best bet is to go to Sears or the equivalent, but I'll be real surprised if you find something wrong besides the alt.

If you don't want to take that step yet then put your battery back in your other car and go for a good long drive to charge it up (think hours not minutes). Then swap it back to the Lincoln and see what happens. It should start right up and run ok for a little bit then gradually perform worse and worse as the vehicle sucks juice out of the battery to supplement the alternator.

d-