I assume my alternator is going bad, but let me explain. When I bought my 86 Iroc 305TPI, the guy said it had been sitting for a couple of months. It crunk and drove fine.

I got struck with the boiling gas issue, and just about killed my battery by trying to re-start the car (I had no idea about the hot gas issue).

Anyway, the more I have driven the car, the stronger it seems to have made the battery able to start the car. It fires up very easily, as it should.

Today, I got caught in a thunderstorm. This MAY be a coincidence, but it's just odd. Lightning struck within a couple of hundred yards of me, in the car on the road.

The radio started cutting on and off and on and off. After a few minutes, the radio just cut off altogether. After about 2 miles, the car started sputtering. I thought I was out of gas because my fuel gauge bounces a little and I was on about a quarter anyway. I also noticed that the windshield wipers were running a little slow - I had the headlights on, due to the rain. It also felt like it didn't want to shift gears when it was supposed to (700R4).

All of the sudden, the radio came on, the windshield wipers sped up, the car regained all of it's power and I made it to my destination.

When I went to leave, the battery was completely dead. I could get a click, dome light worked, trunk release worked, but no start.

I put a battery charger on and gave it a little while. I came out, fired the car right up. When I went to take the charger off, I noticed that it had slipped off and was not on the battery anymore, so I don't know how long it charged. No more than 20 mins.

Anyway, car ran fine. When I cut my headlights on, I noticed that the windshield wipers slowed down. I cut them off, and they sped back up. Then I noticed that the volt gauge was sitting on dead.

The car acted like I said it did in the beginning of this novel, but I made it home (didn't use headlights, radio, or anything else other than windshield wipers).

I assume that my alternator died and that the car was running soley on the battery. Am I correct or is there something else going on here? it just seems like a major coincidence that this happened right about the time of the lightening strike.

Sorry this is so long. Thanks for any help!

 

Take the alternator and battery to your local parts store and have them tested.

 

You can also put a volt meter on the battery and see what it reads both while off and while running. If it isn't up close to 14 volts running then I would put the volt meter on the battery terminal on the alternator and the other on a ground. If this still reads low then I wouls think alternator. If it reads about 14 and the run was low then I would assume a bad connection or a wiring issue from the alternator to the battery. If it reads low there also then I would want to believe the alternator is bad and have it tested with the battery.

 

A meter won't tell you whether the battery is holding a deep charge. When testing the battery it must be under load, which they do on the bench tester.
I had Autozone test my battery with a hand held meter and they refused to exchange it because it read 12.8 volts. I then took it to Pep Boys and it failed the bench test under load. Pep Boys gave me a readout from the bench tester, which I took to Autozone and they exchanged my battery.

 

Does sound like the Alt, if you buy a new on get a NEW one not a reman, only cost about 5 bucks for a life time warranty. Mine tested good on the bench but it was not good. The diodes die and you can get a good reading but it can still be bad.

 

This is all true. I did not mean to imply that the voltmeter was telling you the battery is good. It isn't. What I described is only meant as some info towards the battery and actually meant for use in checking the alternator and charging. It does not tell how well the battery can (or can't) hold a charge. I hope I did not actually mislead anybody.