Car battery/alternator question?

Question

I replaced my 93 Chevy Beretta's alternator last year. I recently had my car battery die on me. Ever since I replaced the battery, the car acts like it wants to stall when ideling then it revs itself back up, tries to stall again, and the cycle continues. Seems to only do this at night when the headlights are on. I guess my question is: why is it doing this? Please, serious answers only.

Answer 1

My 98 Mitsubishi Galant was doing that... except it would actually die, and kill the alternator with it. I've replaced the alternator 3 times. Each time Shucks tested my alternator it was charging at odd numbers. But it was warrantied, so at least I just had to trade. It was the same though, it would do it faster when lights and radio or any extras were on.

I took it to a mechanic, and apparently The piece that is supposed to connect to the alternator was broken. Cost me a little more than $100 to fix and it's running fine now.

Before a mechanic... I would double check the battery, did you get the right one? That may sound dumb, but I'm not very mechanical, and it's a mistake I've made.

Answer 2

Here are some procedures to use to check your alternator: -Check the gauges, if the car is equipped with them. If you have a volt/amp gauge, it will read the alternator output for you. Turn on the blower fan for the AC or Heater, the headlamps, and any other accessories that put a strain on the alternator, and watch the gauge to see if it decreases voltage or amperage. The gauges should read about 13.5 Volts or the normal range for amps when the engine is running. If these values decrease when you turn on electrical accessories, the alternator may be weak. -Open the hood, and with the car engine off, loosen the negative battery cable so that it can be removed with little effort. With the battery cable still loosely attached to the terminal, crank the engine, then pull the battery cable completely free of the terminal. If the engine continues to run, the alternator is providing enough voltage to power the electric circuits that provide spark to the spark plugs, electric fuel pumps, etc. You can increase the demand on the alternator by turning on headlamps, heater blower fans, and other electrical accessories to determine the draw capability of your alternator. If the engine immediately dies when the cable is removed, the alternator is probably bad. -Listen to the alternator while the engine is running. If there is a problem with the bearings you may hear a squealing sound coming from the front of the car, which becomes louder with more electrical accessories using power at the same time. -Feel the alternator after the engine has run a few minutes and you turn the engine off. If it is very hot, you may have wear to the bearings or the insulation on the copper windings may be breaking down, an indication the part may fail soon. Now, if you find the alternator NOT defective try testing your battery by: First check the main battery fuse located in the fuse box under your hood. Look for a black plastic cover that shows fuse amps printed on it or battery fuse. Lift open the black plastic cover and look for another cover that says main fuse and lift that open. You should see a see-through 70amp fuse. You will notice a thin copper wire. Make sure that the copper wire is solid meaning no break on it. If thats borken change it...if not, your battery can not hold charge and you will need to replace it.

Answer 3

You don't have what is any hard problem here as long as this condition was not present before the battery was replaced. If there was no problem before, the PCM has lost its memory related to fuel trim and idle data. What you need to do sounds stupid, but it was what we had to do whenever we unhooked power for any reason. You are going to have to unhook the battery again and leave the power off for at least 30 seconds. After the time has passed, reconnect the power. Now without touching the gas pedal or attempting to keep the motor running, start the motor this way. Turn the ignition on and let the PCM set its parameters so give it about 5 seconds. Start the motor, it might stall. If it does stall, just recrank and start the motor. When the motor starts, it will probably race but idle down by itself. You now have to let the motor run by itself without touching the gas pedal or doing anything else while the PCM "learns" the settings. They say you have to wait until the motor gets hot so let it run until it hits about 90 degrees C or around 200 degrees F. Then shut it off for a couple of seconds and it should be good to go. I know this sounds dumb, but I did it thousands of times.

Answer 4

you could of installed the wrong alternator. The problem could be the cars head lights are drawing to much amps for the alternator to Handel meaning that the battery is being drained of power and the alternator is struggling to keep up with the load. I would go back to where you had the car fixed and have them check out the alternator or have them check to see if its the right alternator for your car. also the car does not have any type of "idle relearn process" that is not true at all. If you disconnect the battery on any car with a computer all the cars computer will have to do is recalibrate it self to the out side air temp and the air/fuel mixture inside the engine. but it will not have any type of idle problems what so ever.

Answer 5

Sounds like when you replaced the alt, it was not replaced with the correct one. Was all of the info given to the parts store about the power options like power windows, mirrors, A/C, extra lights, defrost, etc? You might have to step up to a bigger alt. But you did say that the alt was replaced last year and the battery this year. When you replaced the batt, you might have knocked a headlight wire loss, causing it to ground out on the car. Check that first before you do anything. If that is not the prob, then take it to Advance and they will hook it up and check it w/o ever taking it off of the car.

Answer 6

Doesn't sound like alternator or battery. One person had to replace the coil pack that supplied cylinder #4 (which was breaking down) [link #1]. Another person thought it might be one of the engine temperature sensors [link #2]. You really need a well-equipped mechanic you can trust at this point. Good luck with that, eh?

Answer 7

A bad battery can cause the engine to speed up.you may have a low amperage leak to ground from a parcial shorted component.Put a battery charger on the battery.Then while watching the charger needle have someone pull one fuse at a time (key off)until the charge needle drops.When the needle draws less amperage that is the problem circuit.Keep unplugged until you repair.

Answer 8

Hi Tricia, Can you return to where you bought the battery and have them check your charging system? Sears used to perform free charging diagnostics, Check your local collage auto class, they may do checks and repairs, tune ups, etc for little or no charge (pardon the pun).

I have had similar issues with other vehicles, turned out to be a clogged pcv valve with a pinched vacuum line. Performance OK?

Clean and tighten cable connections at the battery, check loose or broken vacuum lines, disconnected wires, a dysfunctional mass air flow sensors can do this symptom. Unfortunately the list goes on forever with newer cars, yet it is probably something simple.

Answer 9

hate to say it but the car is 14 years old and chevrolet never intended for it to last this long,more than likley you have a bad connection in the electrical circut and will probably have more problems like this in the future,you might try removing the - terminal on the battery first cleaning the terminals and be sure to replace the - terminal last when hooking the battery back up dont know why but computers are strange about hooking the + up last or un hooking the + first

Answer 10

Hi, You may want to try to start your car up and pop the hood of your car, have someone or yourself remove one connection from you battery pole. If the car stays on while the battery is disconnected, your alternator is fine. But, if your car turns off, then your alternator is not producing any current for you vehicle to maintain. Another thing, always when doing a connection to your battery terminals, also use a wire bristle brush to clean the connection for a better circuit. Check to se if any of your spark plugs came loose too. check your air valves / filters to see if it's collecting enough oxygen in your carburetors or fuel injections system. My first target is BATTERY TERMINALS AND ALTERNATOR TEST AS EXPLAINED ABOVE good luck.