electrical problem.....suggestions
 

k so i was driving today, all of a sudden, the radio shuts off. then the radar detector shuts off, turn signals wont work and I cannot get my headlights to go up or down.

I pull into a autozone (convient place to have a break down huh?) and shut the car off. Try to start it and nothing. Jump the battery and it starts right up. but still no interior or exterior power accesories work, I can barely read my odometer.

He tested it and said he thought it was my alt. some people say it might be the battery, im stuck at work now and cant play with it, any suggestions as to what it might be?

any ideas? also the little charge light was on. :Wconfused

ALT failures do crazy things...I'd bet that too.

dubulup FTW

a low battery charge will also cause you're alternator to output a low voltage/amp charge. you say he tested your battery...what were the readings?

it was charged prior to me recieving the car back. when the guy at autozone had the tester on the batt. he said it was putting out 8 volts when it should be around 13-14 volts. This was taken when the car was revved up to 2-2.5k rpm's

if the car is revving, and the battery is connected (and the alt wiring is good)...and only 8V are showing up. You need an Alternator.

:Wconfused

a battery has 12.6 volts which should give a reading of 12.4+ for a good battery. in your case, i would ask somebody to perform a volt AND amp load test to see if the battery is still good.

do you happen to have an extra alternator laying around to throw on there?

no but i ordered one today from ray at malloy. not very cheap. hopefully thats the problem. Everyone Ive spoken to points to the alt. ill probably change the battery as well.

I had a spare. you could've thrown in there to make sure that was the problem.

damn, thanks for the offer. but with it being 13 years old it was probably time for a new one anyway. ill just call it maintence :)

this is the same problem as mine
my indicators work sometimes and so do my headlights, interior light doesnt work and my radio wont know either, further more some times the car cuts out by its self and when the headlights dont work i hit the high beams to try and get them to go up but that makes the car cut out.
on my micotech handcontroller when the car is on it still read 13.8 volts or something

well, after $246 (-75 core) got my new alt and installed it last night, car starts now (after the initial jump start) and runs great everything works just fine!!

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