Battery, Alternator or Starter Motor?

[mischa]

Ok guys need to know what you think.

Went for a drive yesterday, 2 min's down the street. Car started and ran as normal, no warning lights at all. Park leave the car for a max of 2 min's, come back and the battery is completly dead.

Lucky for me a drive a manual and i had a fellow VN driver give me a push (i wanted to steal his SS spoiler so much)

Anyway got it home that way so i started to work out what the problem is. The starter motor was my first guess as it didnt move at all when trying to start it, but started fine with a mates battery.

So now its between the alternator and the battery, but if it was the alternator not charging the battery, the battery would of lasted more then 2 min's? Also no warning lights where on either.

Now what do you think is the problem? I just dont want to throw a new battery in it then run out of power in the middle of no where. Also battery was purchased in 2003 so it is getting on a little.

(i wish i had my multimeter )

[mrss6ltr]

hey mate. try the alternator. the reason why your battery would of gone flat quickly might be because it is old.

[mischa]

Still, 2 mins, ive had the radio going for more then a hour+ and the car used to be fine, start and all.

[mrss6ltr]

yeah but the radio usually doesnt take a lot of power from the battery

[Lost_Pete]

Get your multimeter and do a test. There might be other ones but here's what I do;

1. Check your leads and terminals in case they are loose or corroded.
2. Measure the battery voltage. Hopefully it should be above 12V.
3. Turn your headlights on and measure the battery voltage. It should be no more than 1V or 2V less than the last reading.
4. Start the engine and watch the multimeter. It should drop to no more than 10V.
5. Rev the engine and watch the multimeter. It should rise to about 13V or 14V.
6. If all is okay then you may need to stop the engine turn off the ignition key. Disconnect the positive lead and measure the current draw (use caution and the 10A range on your multimeter). If there is more than a few hundred mA then you need to see what is drawing the current. If it is in the amps range then you have a problem.

Some may argue about this test, amps and voltages but it works for me.

[Haydz]

Alternator's charging, battery at about 10V, jump started the car this morning drove it over to haydz house (im there now why im on his account) let it run for another 15 mins and that was the result.

But the voltage on the battery was dropping constantly after i turned the car off and it wouldnt start again. So its the battery.


(mischa on haydz account)

[accentstencil]

Judging by the age of the battery I reckon it's time for a replacement.