ok so i just replaced the plugs and wires and valve cover gasket and got everything put back together and now the battery doesnt seem to take a charge. as soon as you give it any juice it fires right up but as soon as you turn it off it wont start even after an hour of driving. another strange thing is that the clock and radio arent resetting like they usually do with a dead battery. any ideas as to the problem?

if you can drive around for an hour, the battery is charging.

I would guess you have a bad ground, the starter requires the most energy of all. everything else could work like normal but if the ground isn't really good, the starter won't beable to draw enough to start it. Look for bad grounding points from the post on the battery to the main engine/chassis ground from the main ground cable, there you should locate the issue.
<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

I have had issues at the negative post on the battery. I had replaced the terminals and lost some length on the cables. Everything looked ok, but there wasn't a lot of slack on the ground cable. The biggest issue was with the part that clamps onto the cable and bolts to the intake. I guess that whenever the engine would turn over, or the transmission would shift, it was always tugging on the cable. I was having some strange symptoms, so I examined the battery cables. Whenever I touched the ground cable, it just fell out of the terminal. I bought some wire lugs and used a peice of cable to extend the ground point from the intake. The improvement in performance was better than any tune up I had previously performed. Hope this helps.

try cleaning the termenals and posts

If none of the previously mentioned stuff works, maybe look for a drain somewhere, check with an ammeter to see if something is drawing current while the car is shut off. I have had cars where a light was on or the radio or something was drawing current whiel the car sat, thus killing the battery after a few hours.

he said as soon as you shut it off it wont start back up

therefore it has to be related to a bad ground OR a bad positive battery cable to the battery.

that point that he can drive it around means the alternator is working, or the car would make it about 5 minutes or until the battery ran out of power.

it's the alternator.

a used one from here:

http://4subarusuzukikiaparts.com/

is like 40-60 bucks, i think. and they give you good info, like how many miles on it and whatnot. i've had one in for 8 years and it's never given me one bit of trouble.

maybe it is but please explain how he can drive it for an hour with a bad alt. but then it just wont start back up. but everything else works....

that is self explanatory, isn't it? you need 12-14 volts to start a motor, you don't need that much to run a radio, lights, wipers or anything else. if the alternator isn't charging the battery, the voltage is dropping to just below 12-ish while driving, due to headlights being on, using turn signals, computer, abs, auto tranny (maybe?), etc. could just be bad connection, too, but, if not, sounds exactly like a bad alternator.

You are correct! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />






The first step is to have a load test to battery for current draw.

And of course check the terminals!

I choose battery as the culprit initially.

Then second do an Alternator bench test regarding the charging sys. ------avg.(12.9-14v) which = 80% of load.



And as some one has already deduced..... it very well could be the - Or + connection (hence check terminals).




Step by step! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />




I say it is the BATTERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/nana.gif" alt="" />