Hey guys,

I've been having this problem for a few days now and I wanna know what you guys think. After driving the car for a few days I would notice that the battery gets weak (headlights and interior lights get dim) and when i finally get home and shut off the car, everything dies. This usually happens after 2 or 3 days of driving. I wont be able to turn it back on. I've already changed the battery so i know thats not it, next thing to do is take out the alternator and get it tested.

One thing that I think may cause the problem, but i'm not sure cause i dont know much about this, is that I also recently installed a new CD player to the car. Could something in the wiring be causing this to happen. I've installed plenty of cd players before and havent run into this.

Any help is appreciated.

I would doulble check for any bare wire in the Cd wiring harness. If no faults found I would test the alternator although if it wasn't doing it b4 the install then it's not likely that it's the alternator unless you are killing the battery frequently listening to the player.

well I listen to the cd player everytime i'm in the car, considerably loud too. But I dont think that would kill the battery. This never happened prior to the cd player installation so it might be something like a bare wire even though I already checked and they all seem fine. I'm taking out the alternator this afternoon to see if thats the problem.

Oh by the way today the car died on me while i was pulling into my driveway. Thank god it didnt happen in a highway or something.

Yup, it's definitely an alternator issue. The higher AMP, the better.

Hossein

also, when wiring the cd player, at least my pioneer, there is a wire whcih much be connected to a switched 12volt line. If you connect it to an always on source, it kills the battery.
Primary suspicion is still the alternator, but it is something to think about. What does your volt gauge show while running? It should be around 14.

its always running just below 13. When i press on the brakes it goes down some and also when i turn on the headlights

I just came back from two advance auto parts to get it tested and they said the alternator was fine. So now i guess i'm gonna have to check the wires for the third time. (they also recharged my battery)

I had a similar problem...sometimes with new cd players the memory wire, which really goes to the battery so it always gets power may a)be hooked up wrong or the wires may be crossed or the wire may jus be messed up and drawing too much voltage, so i would put a tester on the battery and while your disconnectiong wires form the cd player, have some one watch the tester and see when the voltage goes down to zero, when it does so theres your problem...if for some reason it isnt the cd player id check the fuses and do the same while your down there...Just some past experiance, lol Hope ya fix it

Do you listen to it alot while the car isn't running?

It doesn't take a big open gash to drain the battery. Just one small enough to make contact to ground over. I've done it a few times myself. I've actually stripped a wire bare sliding the unit in. That was many years ago but it happens. I hope you find the problem.

This may be overboard but you might just want to use electrical tape on all the new wires. also maybe see if you have a buddy that has a spare alternator or one that works and test that out.

I've tested the +12 volt ignition wire and +12 volt battery wire and both seem to be fine. None of the wires seemed to be stripped at all but I guess i'll cover as much as i can with electrical tape. Because of the fact that the car turned off while I was driving has me worried that its probably not CD player related. I also forgot to mention that one night I was driving and I turned on the high beams, when I did, the CD player turned off. This only happened once though.

It really sounds like an alternator problem. You can't always believe what the guys at the auto parts store tell you. If your car is loosing power you either have a bad ground or your alternator is not pumping out enough juice to charge the battery and keep the car running. Try this test. Turn your car on and leave it running. Pop the hood and pull the negative cable off your battery. If the car dies as soon as you disconnect the negative cable then it's your alternator. You also might want to check the wires going to your alternator. My brother-in-law had the same problem once. We were coming back from san antonio and his car just died on him. So for about 200 miles back to houston we were swapping batteries back and forth. I hope this helps. If you find culprit and it's not the alternator then disregard this post. Hope this helps a little.

thanks, i'll try that test when i get back from work this afternoon.

Don't try that test on a FI vehicle!
While it works fine on older carb vehicles, pulling the negative cable off creates a power surget that can seriously damage your ECM.

LOL I was assuming that was his method. Lot's of other ways I guess. Just thought the dry sarcasm was funny.