Don 944 LA

Well, after the 944 had been sitting waiting for the tie rods to show up, the battery had died. It had done this before when the fan wouldn't shut off, but hasn't lately.

Anyway, after I put in the inner/out tie rods, I jumped it and then drove about 30 miles at 70+ mph to charge the batttery. When I went to drive it this morning ( tires / alignment ) there was SOME juice in the battery, but not enough to turn her over.

Question: since the battery did accept a small charge or did fully charge and then lost it overnight .... does that mean that the alternator is in good shape ??
I don't want to replace the battery only to find that it was OK.

It seems that it's always something on these things.



Thanks
Don

Cyrus951

Take the car to a Kragen, they hook up a tester to your battery while your engine is running, to see if the alternator is charging. It should read around 14 volts IIRC when charging.
The battery is another possibility, so while you're at kragen, have them "load test" the battery, to see if it's the culprit.

btw, kragen does all this for free.

83na944

It could be the battery, the alternator, the cables , or all three. And you could have a circuit that's pulling current when it's not supposed to, like a short. Bt it's most likely the battery or the alternator.

Start the car and put a voltmeter across the battery terminals. You should get about 13.5 - 14.5 volts if the alternator is charging well.

You have to put a load on the battery to test it correctly. Autozone can do this for you.

KLR

Ditto the above. Most places will do this for free, but if you have a voltmeter, you can check that the alternator is charging and check for a drain while the car is off.