ugh starting probs...click!

[kouki-guy]

okay, car is not starting. it is definitely the electrical system. About 3 weeks ago I had the same problem. We jumped the battery and it starts. We let it run hoping the alternator would recharge it. It does. Few days later its dead. Car does not turn over all we hear is click and absolutely all electrical is dead. Jump it again and it starts as normal. So we drop in a new battery. Now its about 3 weeks later and the same thing happens.I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the Neg. cable ground or a ground somewhere at least. Another thing is that the terminals on the neg. are turning blue (corroding). Another reason could be a short. The cig.lighter is dead, antenna is dead, and speakers are staticky, could any of these be a short?If its a ground, can someone please tell me where they are, cuz they're a pain in the arse to spot. Thanks!! ^^

[navysnail]

it could be a ground, check the fuses for the lighter and stuff, ground for speakers

also, it could be a bad alternator

and the best definition ive heard for an alternator is that it keeps a fully charged battery fully charged, it is not a battery charger, it will charge it up a little, but if the batery is dead, you would be better off using a batery charger

[InsanityInc]

er.. an alternator *is* a battery charger. It uses a generator to convert mechanical to electrical energy which it in turn uses to charge the battery.

Problem is, rechargable batteries lose their ability to hold a charge over time, so you can chage it up all you want, but it'll only hold so much.

[benemorius]

An alternator is not meant to be such a battery charger. It is never a good idea to let an alternator charge a dead battery. That is a good way to kill an alternator, which is exactly what may have happened. 240kid is right about it being better to use a charger on a dead battery.

Take the alternator down to Oreilly and have them test it unless you feel like testing it yourself. You may have killed it by letting it charge the battery after that first jump.

[s13sr20chris]

do a parasitic draw test. put an ammeter in series with the(crap is it neg or pos terminal) battery terminal to the batt and watch for like 20min. by then the reading should be stable at around 10-20 milliamps. if its higher, start pulling fuses out one by one untill it goes down into the acceptable range.