I think my batt is dead, checking with u all

[thegreatestpenn 5,000+ posts]

So I'm at dairy queen and my car won't start for some reason. I pop the hood and look at the voltage. I can't remember what the voltage was at, but I tried to remote start the car and the voltmeter would just blank out. So my friend gives me a jump and the car gets back up to 15+V after my car gets up and running (which took longer than expected, very weak crank, voltage would dip to 8V). So last night I run around without turning the car off for fear it'll die on me again and once I reach home it sure enough does. My big 3 ground point looked pretty corroded so I redid that (even though I still had stock ground), checked fuses, and made sure terminals had a good connection. At this point the voltage is reading 10.6V and not really wavering. I get another jump and after a really labored crank dipping down to 8V again, the car starts up and is back to 15+V. I turn the car off after letting it run for about 40 minutes and the voltage with car off reads 13V. So I try to restart the car immediately to see if all is well, but the starter gets no voltage as all I hear it do is click. I recheck the battery and its back at 10.6V. I'm thinking my Yellowtop is dead, but I'm open to other troubleshooting ideas.

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[CRXBMPN 5,000+ posts]

i highly suggest you get a battery load tester, one of my favorite and most useful tools!

edit* I got mine on ebay for about $20

 

[MEMPHISFLEX 10+ year member]

Yeah you might have a bad cell in your batter, or you have a bad ground, or power wire going to your starter?

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

IMO, sounds like the battery if it went from 13vdc to 10vdc after a click from the starter

 

[thegreatestpenn 5,000+ posts]

i highly suggest you get a battery load tester, one of my favorite and most useful tools!
edit* I got mine on ebay for about $20

word, I'm gonna see if my friend can swing by with his. I really don't wanna get another batt right now, but it'd be nice to get a kinetik hc1400 under the civic's hood

 

[jrwalte 10+ year member]

If the battery checks out OK I'd look at your alternator next. Autozone will test it for free.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

If the battery checks out OK I'd look at your alternator next. Autozone will test it for free.

autozone's tester will not correctly test HO alts:fyi:

 

[CRXBMPN 5,000+ posts]

on my black and decker battery charger it has a built in alt load tester //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif mmm handy

 

[jrwalte 10+ year member]

autozone's tester will not correctly test HO alts:fyi:

How would you test a HO then? With an amperage reader and see how it does under heavy load? Or would your voltage be a clear indicator?

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

How would you test a HO then? With an amperage reader and see how it does under heavy load? Or would your voltage be a clear indicator?

easiest way would be to full field the alt then look at amperage and voltage

 

[thegreatestpenn 5,000+ posts]

its not the alt. When an alt is blown, the voltage will not stay any higher than the battery's peak resting voltage and since the alt will leach power from the battery, the voltage will drop when the car is running (I've already blown 2 alts, I know how that goes unfortunately).

 

[jrwalte 10+ year member]

its not the alt. When an alt is blown, the voltage will not stay any higher than the battery's peak resting voltage and since the alt will leach power from the battery, the voltage will drop when the car is running (I've already blown 2 alts, I know how that goes unfortunately).

An alt can be going bad and still give decent voltage but can't provide the high amperage when needed, though.

 

[jrobb 10+ year member]

hey Will get it running then disconnect the battery ground, if the car dies its the alternator... if not its the battery unless u've missed a bad connection somewhere...

 

[jbizzle 5,000+ posts]

hey Will get it running then disconnect the battery ground, if the car dies its the alternator... if not its the battery unless u've missed a bad connection somewhere...

um....... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/banghead.gif.8606515f668c74f6de0281deb475b6fd.gif

 

[thegreatestpenn 5,000+ posts]

I'll try that thanks Jrobb