think it's okay to drive?

[1FlyTsiVT]

the other day while i was driving my stereo kept cutting out every three seconds or so, it would play 3 seconds of a song then turn off then back on over and over the whole drive until i turned it off.. I pull into my driveway. shut her down and go inside. grab money for the car wash, go back outside turn the key and nothing happens, a little crank then no sound. try it again, all it does is click like when the battery is dead. so i check all my belts and shes fine etc etc. so i jump start it and it fires right up fine. shut it off after 20 mins. try to start, just a crank and then the click. jump starts fine again.

this is alternator correct??? or alternator belt?

if i jump start it, and dont shut it off think i can do my friend a favor and drive a 30 minute drive and have it not shut down on me?

 

[boostineclipse]

If you jump the car, it shouldn't die on you while you are driving.. at least it shouldn't if there is no major problem. I was having that same problem.. and at the same time I had a ISC problem, hehe, not a good combo. It ended up being a bad battery. Had my entire charging system check. And thats what I had to replace. I could drive for an hour.. 30mins.. it wouldn't matter.. when I turned the car off, even for a min.. it wouldn't start back up

 

[ProjectTwin]

put a multimeter on the battery terminals with the car off.

You should see 12V...and it should stay steady.

With the car running try putting the meter's test leads on the batt terminals and check the voltage.

With the car running you should see 14.4V

If it's low when the car is off you need a new batt.

If it's low when running it's the Alternator.

Sounds like it's your batt, though.

 

[talon1979]

Take your car in to autozone or checker and have them test your batter and alternator for you.

 

[1FlyTsiVT]

i would hate for it to die while i was driving

 

[qwall]

sounds like it's your alternator, when you're driving it charges the battery and the whole electrical system, when it's going bad the battery will kick in and provide the needed power but if you happens often and for a longer period sooner or later it's gonna drain your battery also.

 

[Defiant]

Originally posted by 1FlyTsiVT
i would hate for it to die while i was driving

No.

Your alternator's dead as Caesar.

 

[Jimmy Jr.]

My alternator went at 75k just three weeks ago after I experienced the same symptoms you're having.

 

[markgholland]

I have an extra alternator if you wanna throw it in for the drive; it'll take me 15 min to swap it out. Or, since the motor is coming out anyway, I could just bring a new battery over and throw it in for the drive.
~Mark

P.S. Can you tell I'm the person it's going to??

 

[NickBsGST]

Def the alternator

If it was the battery jumping it wouldnt do squat

the fact that he jumped it...went for a drive and his stereo went dead again means that the alternator isnt charging the battery back up

 

[szewczyd]

If the alternator dies won't the car die as soon as the battery is drained?

 

[markgholland]

No, you have to keep the car above idle or it will. When I was having a problem with my alternator, it drained the battery and then would stall. You could restart it from a jump, but immediatly had to be reved.
~Mark