Charging woes

mdavis · Post by **mdavis** » July 15th, 2005, 9:55 pm

So my car was just down (not used) for over a month as I waited for some replacement wheels/tires (really bent one - had to get a new set since they don't make my old ones anymore). In that time, I did nothing to my electrical system, yet the car isn't charging my battery anymore. I can remove the batt, connect a charger, give it a charge, but it back in, and get a few starts out of it (if im lucky) - or i can jump it - but if i drive it out to town and stop at the gas station or something, i've got about a 50% chance of it just barely starting up, or I have to bump start it. Kragen load tested my battery and says it's just fine - and it seems to be considering I can hook it up to a charger for a few hours and give it some juice. Of coarse I've disconnected all accessories from the batt but the problem continues. The "Charge" dash light never alluminates - does anybody know if this means I can safely rule out the alternator as the problem? The car behaves 100% normally as long as you get it running. I should mention that about a week ago I did wash my engine bay, covering anything that needed it, except the alternator (I've read it's okay not to cover it...) and I was wondering if maybe this could have damnaged it... except that this charging problem (or holding a charge problem...) seemed to crop up just about the same time I bent my wheel - maybe that was just the first time I noticed the problem, because it appears to be getting worse by the day now - at first (if my memory serves me) you could give the batt a good charge or drive the car on the spair for a bit, and it would somewhat hold the carge, but you couldn't start the car after a day or less or sitting... not the problem is very bad, I can hardly ever get it to start without bump starting it after I've driven somewhere.

Anyways I know these electrical problems are often a b----, and not the most interesting thing to help someone out with, but if anybody has any particular ideas or any information I would appreciate the help. Thanks

dewthis · Post by **dewthis** » July 15th, 2005, 10:13 pm

Sounds like the battery. You can run without a battery as long as the alt. is functioning properly. From what I gather it seems like it runs fine until you try to start it again.

From reading your post again your batt. will hold a charge for a small amount of time. Save some money up and get a red top.

Grants · Post by **Grants** » July 15th, 2005, 10:48 pm

Can you do some voltage readings on the battery? With the car off and with the engine running. You should have about 14V with the engine running to prove your alternator is ok.

tk2269 · Post by **tk2269** » July 16th, 2005, 7:07 am

could it be the clutch switch,kuz the same thing happen to my car so i had it check out and it was the clutch switch so i had it removed and it starts up fine ever since.

mdavis · Post by **mdavis** » July 16th, 2005, 7:18 am

Grants wrote:Can you do some voltage readings on the battery? With the car off and with the engine running. You should have about 14V with the engine running to prove your alternator is ok.

Hmm I didn't check the voltage when it wasn't running, just seemed pointless since we know it's usually almost dead. Running voltage at batt is 13.8-13.9v

tk2269 wrote:could it be the clutch switch,kuz the same thing happen to my car so i had it check out and it was the clutch switch so i had it removed and it starts up fine ever since.

Can you explain? I tapped mine once for the remote-star on an alarm to disable to clutch safety temporarily, but i don't use it anymore. I wonder if the connection being boogered up could cause my batt to drain... i doubt it.