royalcrown

iTrader: (1)

i was driving to my girlfriends house tonight and noticed that my headlights were very dim. looked at the battery gauge and it was almost in the dotted red zone. as soon as i got on the highway, all the lights got brighter and the gauge shot up to normal. then it gradually went back down in the red until the car eventually died. i checked under the hood and the positive terminal has some major corrosion on it which i'm going to take a wire brush to it tomorrow and see if that helps. when i try to start it now you can hear a bunch of fast clicks but thats it. lights will still come on, so its not completely dead.

what do you think happened? possibly the alternator died and the car was just running off the battery until it died? maybe the corrosion on the terminal is so bad that its completely lost a connection? i tried jumping it and all i get are those fast clicks.

if anyone can give any advice it would be greatly appreciated!

thanks!

Formula413

iTrader: (1)

First step is to clean the posts and terminals. I had a similar problem with another car once, couldn't jump it to save my life, cleaned the posts/terminals and everything was fine. If one of the terminals isn't making a good contact the battery won't charge. Don't just use a wire brush, use an actual terminal cleaner, worth the three bucks, remove the terminals and clean them as well as the posts. If it still won't hold a charge go to one of the auto parts chain stores and have them check the battery and alternator, many of them do it for free (Advance, Autozone etc).

royalcrown

iTrader: (1)

well, i had it towed this morning. just picked it up from the shop. $160 freaking dollars for diagnostics, new battery and installation!!! drove it home and started doing the same thing. battery draining very quick. what the hell! obviously they didn't check the alternator...

you guys that are shop frequenters, should i be pretty pissed? how should i handle this? i'm having to take it back up to the shop tonight so they can fix it for good tomorrow but i'm not really happy about another day without a car and having to shell out more money.

BigDaddyBry

iTrader: (15)

You should at least get your diagnostic money back and possibly be able to take the battery back as well. If they charge you to diagnose it, and they misdiagnose it, whose fault is that? Not your's.

Jon5212

iTrader: (2)

That is your alternator buddy... i'd be talking to that shop service manager about a refund.

royalcrown

iTrader: (1)

is it possible that my old battery was good, just dead due to running off the battery after the alt died? or could it be possible that running off the battery while driving completely ruined it, justifying a new battery. i did see the positive terminal on it, and it was pretty caked with corrosion. i'm wondering if they would have just fixed the alternator from the get go, the old battery would have been fine with just a charge??? they said the battery tested bad...

royalcrown

iTrader: (1)

well, they just called to let me know the car's done. they put an alternator in it afterall, like the should have f'ing done yesterday. $311.50!? does that sound right? not to mention the $160 for the battery yesterday...

CAMAROZ28SS

iTrader: (5)

it has to be the alternator if its draining new batterys like that

BigDaddyBry

iTrader: (15)

Tell them you'll give them $200 and call it a day. Remind them of their incorrect original diagnosis, which resulted in buying a battery you didn't need. If they argue, tell them you want a refund on the original $160 since it was complete BS and you'll return the battery.

Cobra2WS6

iTrader: (22)

$311 for an alternator? My car did the same thing, I though it was the alternator which was like $160 or so... But what it turned out to be was the plug that connects the alternator to the computer.. A wire pulled out of the plug in the aternator... So I replaced the alternaor when all i needed was a $5 part and that solved my problem