I used to work on buses doing electrical repair, have also worked on cars for a long time.

if the alt is BAD the car will NOT run very long at all. Headlights take quite a bit of power too but the starter is by far the biggest.

my Boss was building a derby car, they were gutting a lot of things, and everything worked except the car would not start.

I FIGURED out the problem, guess what it was. The alternator? NOPE it was a bad ground, they grounded the battery to the body of the car, but it was not enough to get the starter to work, I ran a 4 gauge wire to the block, it popped right off.

I guarantee you you could not drive for an hour if the alt was that bad. what is drawing power while its running: the fuel pump, coils, computer, and whatever else you happened to have on, like heater, radio, lights. the battery would run down very fast.

maybe there is not enough of the story yet to be 100% sure what it is. but from what I have read, would not be an alternator issue. He said he just did some work to the car, and then thats when it happened.

and yes you need 12 volts to run a radio, lights, wipers and everything else. its not the volts. its the AMPS that matter the most.

are the lights dimming while driving, does it run poorly, and CEL on? we need more to go on.

when my last alternator went out, it would take 3 days to discharge the battery far enough to either not start or stall. the headlights would dim, the dash lights would dim, then just before it went out, the tranny would not shift properly and then shut the engine off. i would charge the battery and it would take 3 days to do it again. swapped the alternator for a used one and never had that problem again.

so, i don't know, different experiences, i guess.

it would be helpful to know if he had issues BEFORE he did the work. Because he said it happened after he did the work, but doesn't say if there was any issues before hand.

if he had no issues until he did the work, then obviously something is unhooked or not tightened down far enough (battery cables or ground point)

if he had issues before hand then it could be the alternator, and or a battery issue (bad cell?)


we need more info from him. We could speculate all day long and it will end up being something unrelated.

I will just wait to see what he says, or adds to this before making any more comments on it.

I agree that can happen, I have seen this kind of problem too, in my case the alternator still worked but not at 100% capacity, it was putting out some power but not enough to keep the battery charged, so after a while the battery would get low enough that the engine wouldn't start. An alternator doesn't always just flat die, sometimes it can be dying but still put out some power, just not quite enough power, so the car is using a little bit of battery power to keep running.

Although I have also seen really similar behavior when the battery was no good.

At any rate, I don't see how we can help you much other than with generic advice, what you need to be doing is troubleshooting the issue one thing at a time, charging system issues are usually really simple, you can just check your cables, grounds, and connection points, remove the battery and test it by itself, remove the alternator and test it by itself... There's only a few things that could go wrong, you should find the issue easy enough. If you have Autozone nearby they will test these parts for free. They can test them on the vehicle but those tests don't always prove conclusive.

Since you were working in the area of the valve covers that makes me more inclined to think you might have loosened the ground strap or left it disconnected or something, that or some other wire. Once again this is only a guess though without being there to look things over <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

WHAT IS THE VOLTAGE BEFORE YOU START THE MOTOR AND AFTER YOU START THE MOTOR?
Get a volt meter and check voltage! If it is 13.5-14.5 volts when the engine is running, it would seem that the alternator is ok. Our alternators are quite easy to remove, and another way to check it is to remove it and take it to a parts store that has a machine that puts it under a load. It should produce 13.5-14.5 volts and around 70 amps max. Also, it sounds like the ground should be checked and all connections be cleaned and tightened. You can buy another ground strap and put it to the motor to help with the starter.
If you have 12 volts or more at the battery with the motor off, and the starter doesn't turn over when you hit the key you may have a bad solenoid or wire from the key to the solenoid. If the lights dim when you turn the key and it does not turn over, it could be a bad ground or a bad starter. If you can, have your local big parts house put their battery checker on your battery and see if you have a bad cell.
So it has been 2 days since your post...have you been able to check any of these possible issues?
Good luck, and hope that everything in all the posts has helped.
Keep us posted on your progress.
Everet <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

hey all, sorry i havent been able to give all the information you needed to help me, my internet got knocked out by a snow storm. anyway, i replaced the wires and clamps, still no good. then i decided that i would got test the battery. wasn't even putting out 100 amps. picked up a new battery, plugged it in, fired right up. thanks for all your help, again sorry i couldnt provide more information.

Wow glad you got it working but... I thought you woulda tested the battery first <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Ah well it's great that you fixed it!

ya i wish i had lol, hindsight is always 20/20

Wish u well -----and don't be afraid to come to the board more often---after all.....You asked for the advice!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/sleeping.gif" alt="" />

Well if it makes you feel better I have done the same thing lol... one time I had a problem where my car had a hard time starting, like it barely had enough juice to turn the engine enough to start it. I had Autozone test my charging system (with everything connected, enging running type of test). They said the test showed everything was fine, no problem with the battery, alternator, etc. So I wasted some time checking other things, trying to figure out if maybe the starter was going bad or something, then my Dad says "hey this is Arizona, batteries go bad quickly, take the damn thing out and have it tested!" Once they tested the battery OUT of the car it showed as being bad and I bought a new one, end of story lol...