I was heading home from school driving down my street doing about 80mph, the car was running fine, and started fine at school. I slowed down to go up my driveway, and as I hit the driveway curb the car died.

The stereo still works, and interior lights work, but when I try to start the car all I hear is the starter clicking.

Did a ground come loose when I went up the bump? I just replaced my battery so I don't think that is the problem. Maybe a wire on the starter came loose?

Does anyone have any idea what this could be?

 

Could be the alternator. Might wanna check that out.

 

Can the alternator just die like that?
That was one of my guesses, but I didn't think it would be the culprit.

How would I go about seeing if it is dead?

And if it is, where can I buy an FD alternator for cheap?

 

boost it and if it starts then you know the battery went dead for what ever reason

matt

 

Is your car manual or auto? If its a manual try a bump start if the car starts it could just be a sticking starter but while its running you can check the vlotage supply back to the battery.,

 

just checked the bat. it was 12.3volts cold, and when tried to start it went down to 7.8volts. is that low? Also, just an unpdate, when you try to start it it just a long click. i thought about starter, but it shouldn't have killed the car. I also thought about a ground, but then there would be no sound at all, right?

thanks.

 

umm, its not your starter because it tryies to work. take out your alt., and go to a specialist, or wherever, and get them to see whats wrong with it, and you'll prolly have to get it rebuilt for like $55, that is more than likely the problem, and mine did the same thing, it just stopped when I was almost home, and then it wouldnt hold a battery charge, so I got it rebuilt

 

good luck with it though, i hope that fixes it

 

Yeah, sounds like the alternator for sure. You can order a new one from mazdaformance.com, OEM and good prices