What the hell is wrong with my car?

[saj21187 10+ year member]

Ok ever since i first had a system in this car ive ran 2 optima red tops, on in the trunk and one under the hood. The other day, I go out to start my car and it starts to turn over, then nothing. So I put a charger on the batteries, it sits for about 30 minutes, I try starting it again and still nothing. Then I disconnected the power from the second battery and taped the terminal up, then charged just the battery under my hood, and it started fine. So i figured the second battery was dead and just left it unhooked, but havent had time to pull it all out and test it. But today I get in and start the car and a few seconds later the SECURITY and SERVICE light come on. So Im like wtf, I pull over in a parking lot thats in my neighborhood and turn the car off. I try turning it back on and nothing at all. The lights wont turn on, the car wont turn over, its completely dead. So I walk home, and grab the old stock battery which i dont even know if it has any charge or not, but it should be enough to at least attempt to turn the car over, put that in and still nothing. What do you guys think the problem is?? I thought alternator, but the car ran just fine yesterday and showed no signs of a bad alternator. I also thought possibly a bad ground somewhere, but since the second battery isnt even hooked up where could this be? Im going to go to autozone and test the batteries but other than that I have no idea. Any help you guys can give me is GREATLY appreciated.

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[Texas Tech 10+ year member]

well how big is your alt and how much power are you pulling for your system?

 

[saj21187 10+ year member]

Its the stock alt, prob like 95 amp at idle I would imagine. The only amp I have hooked up is an mtx 1501d, I know it ***** a good amount of current but wouldnt i see some signs of my alt going out if that were the case?

 

[WantedIsHere]

what type of car do you have ? and what type of alarm ?

 

[Jakkle5 10+ year member]

what kind of car? If it has a chip in the key and you drained the batteries it could need to be re-programmed. The computer see's it as though someone with a new key is trying to start the car because it loses the key ID when the batteries drain completetly. Happened with 2 of my fords.

 

[blackbonnie 5,000+ posts]

but you have to know, that adding a second battery puts more strain on your alternator, because now it has to charge two batteries instead of one. go to autozone and have your alt tested. i bet its going out. and if you havent dne the big 3 yet i wouldnt hesitate a second to do that now. i bet your alt is going bad, and if so, just upgrade to a bigger one instead of just replacing it with a stock one. i believe that autozone tests them for free also. so just let us know what you find out.

 

[jdawg 5,000+ posts]

sounds like something in your car not related to your audio system, what kind of car?

 

[saj21187 10+ year member]

what kind of car? If it has a chip in the key and you drained the batteries it could need to be re-programmed. The computer see's it as though someone with a new key is trying to start the car because it loses the key ID when the batteries drain completetly. Happened with 2 of my fords.

Its an 03 cavalier:crap: , no chip.

 

[saj21187 10+ year member]

but you have to know, that adding a second battery puts more strain on your alternator, because now it has to charge two batteries instead of one. go to autozone and have your alt tested. i bet its going out. and if you havent dne the big 3 yet i wouldnt hesitate a second to do that now. i bet your alt is going bad, and if so, just upgrade to a bigger one instead of just replacing it with a stock one. i believe that autozone tests them for free also. so just let us know what you find out.

Alright I was going to do that, just need to figure out a way to get my car there...

 

[Jakkle5 10+ year member]

you dont need your car, just bring the alternator.

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

I had a friend that had a Cavalier which had that problem. The alt was bad and it caused something else to go out. I'll check with him and let you know what I find out...

 

[saj21187 10+ year member]

I had a friend that had a Cavalier which had that problem. The alt was bad and it caused something else to go out. I'll check with him and let you know what I find out...

Thank you, any help is greatly appreciated. I hope it is just my alt, cause ill buy a cheaper one from autozone and put it in there just so the car runs. I really want to sell the car so i dont mine not having any audio equipment in it for the time being, but i need it to run.

 

[saj21187 10+ year member]

you dont need your car, just bring the alternator.

Thats an option, but looking at it it looks like a ***** to get the alt out. If anyone has a cavalier that has done it and wants to give me some insight that might be a good option.

 

[saj21187 10+ year member]

Thanks for the help guys, I got it figured out. It turns out it just needed a new battery.

 

[Bloodstalker999 10+ year member]

Do you know why the battery died? Unless you left the music on or lights on a Dead battery is usually an indicator that the Alt is not working right. Putting a new battery might not solve your problem, but just prolong it.