I was cleaning my car today, I had the radio running for a bit... I had such a feeling that the car wouldn't start, lo and behold, tick tick tick tick...I roll my car outta the driveway, picture this: an old '67 Mustang boosting a new car...even with the boost the car wouldn't start. We took my friends battery outta his car, attached it straight to mine, it fired right up. I started driving(with no accessories on), the car was idling unusually low. I went to my friends shop to have him check the battery. It looked ok to me, but I was confused why even the boost wouldn't fire her up. He said the battery was fine(99 TL, 30,000 miles), but the alternator may be shot. It's draining the battery. When no accessories are on, it read normal for the charge out of the alternator. When we turned on the headlights, radio, A/C, Wipers, it read low. To top it off, I just had my 30,000 miles service done last week at PAA.... anyone have this kind of a problem?
Ed

 

Why are you so worry? you have 30k miles, so it still under warranty, just take it to the dealer and they will tell you for sure what is wrong. I think it's the battery or a bad terminal.

 

When you say "normal", do you mean 12V? It should be putting out more than 12V normally. Your voltage regulator could be bad, and if it is internal to the altenator, then they would just put a new altenator in for you. The battery isn't used to power your accesories, only to start the car for you. You should be able to start up the car, totally disconnect the battery, and drive around with no problems.

I had altenator problems on other cars before, and what you just described is what mine was doing. Bring it into the dealer and they will change it for you. Hopefully this is just a one time occurance and you don't have a problem with your electrical system.

 

Phew! Thank god you dont have the pulleys! If I was the dealer I'd give you hell if I saw them on.