92Birdofprey

I have a 1989 Camaro RS, I bought it recently, I took it to work last week, everything looked fine, no problems. I got out of work, tried to start it up, dead. No sign of power at all, the motor is not turning over, im thinking damn battery is dead, ok so I got a friend of mine to give me a jump, now Im on my way home, the car turns off while im driving, came to a stop, tried to turn the engine over, nothing, dead, no power at all. Im thinking ok its the alternator, got AAA, so I towed it home, disconnected the battery after the AAA guy gave me a jump with his portable device. With the battery unplugged, the car did not turn off once, stayed out there about an hour and the car never turned off, left it overnight, came back in the morning, turned it on, car turns on right away each time, drove it around the block, no problem. I have another car so I left the camaro there till today morning, figuring that if its the battery or alternator, the car is not going to turn on because the battery is going to be drained if its the battery and not going to turn on if its the alternator since it probably will drain the battery by having it on for a week, went out today tried to start it. Turns on right away. No problem, drove it around the block runs great. WHAT THE HELL!!!! LOL. Do you guys have any idea on what the problem might be, can it still be the alternator or is it something else? Thanks guys.

Ward

iTrader: (1)

Maybe just a bad connection at one of the battery terminals? Was there any corrosion on either of them, and were the bolts good and tight?

Also, you can check if the alternator is charing with a cheap digital volt meter, I recommend getting one. You can get them for like 10 bucks at autozone/walmart/etc. With the engine off, the battery voltage should be around 12V, and with the engine running it should be around 14V.

92Birdofprey

I'll look into buying the digital meter, also would the car just turn off while driving if it was the battery? The alternator should carry the charge right?

campbellerman

A bad battery can sometimes cause a car to shut off while driving especially the newer cars.

87IROC-DAN61

Hello 92Birdofprey!!

Your battery is on it's way out. Batteries usually die by sulfation of the plates that cause it to short out internally, or by a physical break of one or more of the plates, causing a dead cell. Get Autozone or your favorite car repair place to do a load test on the battery. The load test will tell how good your battery really is. The battery can light your bulbs, and run your radio, but trying to turn over a motor takes a lot of juice. A sulfated battery, or one with a broken plate will cause all kinds starting issues.

Just my !!

89RS_82Z

iTrader: (2)

yea prob the batt

mine makes me MAD!!!! its fine as long as you have run the car some, but after 40hrs its dead, and here is the thing, no drain on the car(fixed that problem awhile back ) the amount is within spec it was like .002 but it will also it will die after about 40hrs disconnected too ............ but checks out everytime a the parts store so i cant get the free replacement

campbellerman

what parts store did you go to? i know that most Autozone's have a battery load tester. do you happen to know what tester they used? and if you explain your problem to them they should let you leave it there for ever how many hours it takes for it to go dead. that's what we would do at the store that i work at. i hope you get the problem worked out man.

89RS_82Z

iTrader: (2)

yea the test then says to charge the batt and try again........ stupid batt