Korloin wrote:dontfeartheringo wrote:Korloin wrote:Awoke this morning to find my wifes car dead. Been charging the battery now for about 2hrs to no avail (yes, I'm a stereotypical band guy.... no job, lives off wifes paycheck, watches toddler and makes himself believe he's contributing something). Thing is I just dropped a new battery in a month ago. I think it's the damn alternator.
Funny thing is my dumb-ass guitar player borrowed the band van a few weeks ago and left the headlights on for the whole time. So we had to put a new battery in there yesterday.
These things happen in 3's don't they?
This is usually right about 75% of the time:
If you can jump it off and it runs, it's not the alternator. If you jump it off and it runs for 30 seconds or so and dies, it's the alternator.
Alternators are generally cheap and easy to replace. If it's a modern-ish car with a serpentine belt, make sure there's a diagram somewhere on the firewall that you can refer back to, or take a picture of it with your cell phone.
If the battery is only a month old, it's still under warranty, and there's always the possibility that it's just a bad one. I've heard of it happening, but it's never happened to me. The whole "I've charged it for two hours and nothing doing" thing makes me wonder if you've got the terminals connected properly to the charger or if the battery isn't just stone dead.
Good luck.
It's grabbed enough charge to light the dash and interior, but I can't get it to turn over. I am getting some clicking from the starter.
signs point to----> battery, stone dead.
Still, could be the alternator stopped charging and your wife did not notice the headlights getting dimmer and the windshield wipers getting slower and the radio ceasing to function properly.
I'd say get it jumped off and see what happens. this charger thing is inconclusive.
