Emfuser

While on my way to work today, my ominous CHECK GAGES light came on and I noticed that my battery meter had gone into the red, and was sitting at the first red line left from center. I shut down my stereo, causing the "CHECK GAGES" light to go out for a bit, but not really moving the needle.

After having to go over a few speed bumps on the way in, and driving a bit more, I'm a couple hundred feet from from parking, when the meter abruptly falls to just above the 8V line, i get ABS INOP, ASR OFF, CHECK GAGES, SERVICE ENGINE SOON, and my old Escort 8500 starts to go into cal... all while my dash got real dim. I make it over to a parking spot, sit for a few seconds to stare, and then shut her down.

I opened the hood, moved the battery cables around a bit (they seem to be on solid enough), and put the key back in the ignition, but don't crank it. The needle goes back up to that line in the red zone between 8V and 13V.

Worth noting: the car sat for 12 days over the holidays was started and moved very briefly (<90 sec) last night, and temps were in the teens this morning.

Thoughts? I'm making the conservative assumption that I'm in need of a new battery, can maybe get one more start out of this thing (hoping for a little more luck as temps soar into the 40s today), and am walking away from my cube a full hour early to see if she cranks, and be ready to have my gf ready to bring me a new battery.

haacer

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like your car isn't charging. It had enough juice in the battery to crank itself up, just not to keep driving. I'd recommend stopping by your local Autozone for a charging and battery test.

Emfuser

Oh yeah, I'm going straight to Autozone once she's cranked up.

Geo99M6Z

iTrader: (1)

Same EXACT issue I was having on Monday (but I knew it had to do with the alternator because I had changed it 10 days ago).

If you have to change the alternator, be very careful that you remember to take off the exciter wire and pigtail clip off before trying to remove the battery cable from the alternator. If you pull the wire off the connector, it will be $30+ at the dealership to get a new one (or look on eBay)

I initially changed my alternator because the volt meter indicator on the dash was 'alternating' from 13 => 18, and would go faster when I revved the engine.

01SSRMS

iTrader: (7)

Sounds like more of an alternator problem than a battery problem. You would need a tester to confirm, ie Autozone check. Or the simpler if you have a multimeter and can get the car running you can check voltage output on the alternator. Anything less than 13.0 -13.5 and it is dead. Ideally should be 14+.