car not starting, batt issue

ok so my battery has been dying out on me lately,it doest it once a week,so it didnt bug me to much,but then today i go get the usual charge,toss it back in my car going driving to a girls house everythings great,then when i try to leave it just made the errrrrr sound,pretty embaressing in front of the girl any help with this?? new batt,wires, and solenoid, got the alternator checked bout a year ago and said it was good but idk if the owner before ever changed it out so i kept it,starter looks pretty brand new too,i've read about a dead cells before but this a new battery i just got last year and wouldnt they be able to find that when they charge it?? and when i turn my key on it doesnt light up the anymore,the ALT one on the dash

 

It could be you may need both a new battery AND alternator. Despite the fact that your battery is only a year old, it could be bad. If your alternator has not been charging it properly, it will eventually go bad. If the battery is low and you continue to drive the car expecting the alternator to charge it, it will pop the stator and diodes inside the alternator from overworking it. Take it to an auto parts place and have both checked. Have the battery fully charged before you drive it.


Jim

 

it did feel like it had sticky stuff on it idk if thats how batt acid feel,im pretty sure it burns not just sticky lol but thats when it came back from charging it,i can get another batt free (thank god for warrenty!!) lol and my broinlaw and his fam has had mavericks there whole lives so everythings on lifetime warrenty so ill go get the alternator too tomorrow and see what happens

o and i had started my car up too just to warm it up and mess with it too,turned it off and it turned back right after i turned off the switch too idk if that helps with firguring out whats wrong with it:/

 

I know it's an old possible problem, but does the battery have sufficient water in it (if not sealed)?

 

its suppose to have water in it???
ive never heard of that,how do i check that??

 

It should have a pop up cover on the top of the battery if its a water fed battery.

 

Could be a bad cell in battery/bad alternator or voltage regulator as stated before.
Does the car sit for days/week at a time??? If so, its possible there is an electrical draw on the system when the car is off(not in use) that kills the battery after a few days. The battery is a year old? Have you allowed it to go dead and stay that way for a long period of time? (months) If so the plates may be sulfated.If so, the battery will never take a full charge again. To check the electrolyte in the cells you need a battery that has removable covers on the top of it. Wear goggles and rubber gloves when removing the caps.You dont want the sulfuric acid in the battery to get on your skin or in your eyes.(pry the caps up and off)... With a flashlight look in each individual cell,the water level should be even in all 6 cells.The water level should be above the plates in the battery.(you'll see em when you shine a light in the holes) If you have to add water,use "Distilled" water not tap water. The minerals/chlorine in tap water will cause a good battery to turn to junk premeturely.

 

You need to figure out why the ALT light isn't working. There is a green wire with red stripe going to the voltage regulator. Ground it out, turn the key to the ON position, and see if the light is on. If not, pull the cluster and look for a bad bulb or poor connection.

 

what is a voltage regulator?? just popped it open right now and its all even,i run my car as a daily driver but havnt drove it in only 2 days,i had it sitting for bout 4 months when i did the engine swap but after that it never turned off till now

and the alt light just turned off on me like prolly a week and half ago too how can i know why that went out>??

 

Listen to Jamie... He is wise...If the alt light isnt working...The alternator will NOT charge. The light excites the alt and turns it on. If the bulb is burnt out or the connection is bad the alt will not function...

 

k give me bout 15 mins im a pro at taking off the cluster now lol

 

ok so i pulled out the cluster and changed all the bulbs outs and still nothing:/

and when you mean bad connection do you mean the bulbs arent put in right??

 

Bad connection can be... Bad bulb...Break in the wire...break in the filament on the printed circuit sheet on the back of the instrument cluster. Corrosion on the plug at the cluster or the plug under the hood (green wire with red tracer stripe) Do as Jamie suggested and ground that wire under the hood.Do this with the cluster unplugged. Useing a simple test light, probe the terminal that powers the alt light with the other end grounded. If the test light lights up, the problem is in the bulb/custer. If not the problem is in the wire to the alt bulb. Good luck!

 

ok i just got the alt light back on to work that cuts that out of the picture,maybe now the alt can hold charge and run good??

 

I guess just drive it and see. Being that the car is a daily driver, I would strongly suggest going to an auto parts store and grabbing at least a cheap gauge setup to install under the dash. Water temp, oil pressure and volts are the gauges you want. On my car, I have the volt gauge wired directly to the battery through a relay that's hooked to a switched power source. This will allow you to keep real time tabs on weather your battery is going dead or not while you're driving, and the relay makes the gauge automatically turn off when you shut the car off.

Always pay attention to those idiot lights on the dash. If you turn the key on and one of them isn't working, and you didn't deliberately disconnect it to hook up a gauge or something, figure out WHY it isn't working as soon as possible.