Hey guys my last thread I had low voltage and I replaced my alternator friday and all was well again. well I drove the car fine today(Had been driving it all friday,saturday, and sunday fine also) and I parked it at about 11am and just now went in it to roll the windows back up(8 pm now) and I have low voltage again except this time the car wont even start when i try to start it. any ideas?

 

Would this be because of a short?
edit: opps ment to edit orginal post.

 

get the alternator checked.

make sure the battery wires are tight also.

this has happened to me and i friend.

i bought a new alternator and it went bad after a few days.

and my friend didnt tighten his battery wires and it made his car do the same.

 

Hmm ill give that a try. Its really weird that my car would just lose the voltage while it was turned off though.

 

yeh thats what happened to mine.

does it even crank when you turn the key.

or does it not turn over at all?

 

If you bought your alternator at Autozone, take the piece of **** back and rub their noses in it. They are well-known for selling absolute crap rebuilt parts, especially starters and alts. I have seen people go through countless trips back and forth exchanging their bad parts, eventually giving up and asking to get their money back. I'm serious. It amazes me that they still sell **** parts to people and get away with it.

 

What is the voltage while the car is running? Check it with a multimeter

 

Advance auto Parts I find is good. Although, rebuilt alts are most of the time crap anyways. You might be better off buying a used good alternator.

 

It doesnt crank or turn over.

And I bought a used one from a forum member.

 

It may not be the alternator thats dead but I would bring it to get checked anyways.

 

when it is running does the gague read low or does it only not start after sitting for a while cause if it does then maybe you have a paracitic draw, check if there is a draw when the car is off, unhook a battery cable and put a tester from the battery terminal to the cable end and see what the current draw is.

 

dude if it won't crank it's likely the battery terminals

 

Hmm Ill try cleaning them off when I get home from school. Do you think I may need a new battery? I left my charger on the battery all night and it didnt charge at all.

 

I had the same problem when I installed a FD alternator. I could drive the car everyday and when I would let it sit for a day the battery would be dead. I found out the correct way to wire it up from BDC and all is well. I can let it sit for weeks and the battery is fine now. Maybe you have it wired wrong, unless its a FC alternator.

 

Its an FC alternator.

 

have you seen if you battery could be the problem?

 

I just had this problem about 3 weeks ago. At first my car wouldnt even crank! so my buddy helped me boost my car, was able to get the engine to crank but it would not turn over! so after about 40 minutes we finally got it started. This happened for about 3 days after the first time. I checked the battery and alt and all checked out.

I should note my car was parked at the local mech shop for a solid week (Possibly the car sitting for this long did something ??)

Now my car starts every day no prob but to this day I can not figure out for the life of me what caused it to do this. Im actually thinkin maybe its grounding issues but im really unsure.

 

that alt should be fine.
if it turns out to be bad contact me ASAP!!!
im betting its your grounds.....they may be corroded and need cleaned. have you taken them off and properly cleaned them??
even the battery terminals. wiggle it and see if the lights flicker....if they do its not tight enough.

 

Well i just put a new battery in(a old battery acctualy but a working one) and its reading 14 volts again. Now i just need to get a new battery hold down since my old bolts are too short. thanks for the help guys =)