Resolved 2GNT Low Battery Light

[pwnzer]

Today my battery light came on randomly while driving. ANd then when I turned my car off at my destination, and turned it back on it was off. Then while driving home it came on again and turned off again. I have a 4 month old battery in there, and the terminals and connections are all clean and secure. Anyone have any ideas as to what could cause this?

 

[ChiTownHussla]

The connections by the ALT are TIGHT?

 

[GRAVEDIGGER]

Maybe your alternator is on its way out. You can check your voltage at the battery with the engine running to see what your alternator is putting out. You should be seeing 13.5-14.7 volts at idle on a good charging system.

 

[brandonwh64]

Same thing happened to me with my old battery, it was slowly dying and finally died on the way home from work one day. I am glad the alternator supported the car until i got home

 

[daren_p]

Could be the alternator or battery. The new battery may be bad (it happens) or it might be alright but a dying alternator is pulling it down or hurting it.

I'd load test the battery first but my guess would be alternator is dying. They normally have reduced output once they heat up so sounds like your right on the edge & when you get some heat in it, output is reduced enough to turn on the light.

 

[pwnzer]

It's not the battery because it is reading just fine with a multimeter while the engine is running. Ill check my alternator.

 

[tmaxx411]

With the engine running, what is the voltage? Anything below 13.5 and your alternator isn't charging

 

[red92tsi]

A battery can read fine on a dmm but still be no good.

 

[daren_p]

It's not the battery because it is reading just fine with a multimeter while the engine is running. Ill check my alternator.

This is not an accurate way to test a battery & really isn't a useful way to do it either as you said the battery tested fine with the car running? If the cars running, that means the alternator should be charging the battery, so hooking up a DMM tells you nothing about the battery.

Proper was to test a battery is to make sure its charged properly then do a load test on it. Even if you checked the battery with a DMM (& the car NOT running), just because the voltage looks good, doesn't necessarly mean the battery is good.

 

[IgnorantHeart]

It's not the battery because it is reading just fine with a multimeter while the engine is running. Ill check my alternator.

I work for AAA and do battery calls every day. Did you check your charge with loads (lights, blower, etc) on and off? Also you could have a short somewhere which is causing a slow (mostly unnoticeable) drain of your battery?

 

[pwnzer]

Sorry for the long delay. It's not the alternator, cause I replaced that and the light was still on. It's not the battery, I have had it load tested twice now. I'm thinking maybe it's a bad wire causing a short.

 

[daddyo]

Is there anything else going on beside the light coming on?. If not I would say keep an eye on it and see if something else happens. Could just be a malfunctioning light. The culpret otherwise will reveal itself eventualy.

 

[ChiTownHussla]

Dude, make sure all of the connections by the alt are TIGHT. I had one loose wire and it would throw the light and not charge fully. Double check all the connections then come back and respond

 

[pwnzer]

All of the connections are tight. Its not just the light. My radio, headlights, interior lights, etc will dim or cut out while driving, and then turn back on. I think a ground wire might have corroded. I'm going to take a better look tomorrow after this storm passes.

 

[volcomsnow245]

The exact same thing kept happening to me it was my altenator about to go out and finally it did i would take it off and get it tested.

 

[pwnzer]

I replaced the alternator last night. Still have the same problems.

 

[volcomsnow245]

I replaced the alternator last night. Still have the same problems.

Did you check the fusable link?

 

[pwnzer]

Is that where the wire that bolts on heads to? I was trying to figure out what that went to.

 

[volcomsnow245]

The wire in my fingers is the positive that goes to the battery thats not the fusable link though.

 

[pwnzer]

Isn't the plug in the palm of your hand for the battery? Do they both go there? Anyways, both of those are tight. Where is the fuseable link/how do I check it?

 

[volcomsnow245]

If those are tight next step check the fusable link it is in the fuse box and you need to find the one for your altenator.

 

[pwnzer]

I will check that tomorrow. However if a fuse was blown, wouldn't I have problems starting, because my battery would completely drain?

 

[volcomsnow245]

I will check that tomorrow. However if a fuse was blown, wouldn't I have problems starting, because my battery would completely drain?

Mine started how yours is and then got to the point where it wouldn't start because the battery was so dead.

 

[deweese46]

I had that problem ended up being the harness for the alternator i replaced it (when i had my n/a) didnt have the problem after that,the wires caroted thru i think i spelled taht right .

 

[ChiTownHussla]

I had that problem ended up being the harness for the alternator i replaced it (when i had my n/a) didnt have the problem after that,the wires caroted thru i think i spelled taht right .

corroded