Thread: Battery dies after startup what could it be? Altenator checks fine

you need to find whats drawing the power. how is your stereo hooked up? you got amps and stuff?

its a pain in the ass but you need to test both fuse boxes key off, to see whats lighting up, and if it should be. theres only a few hot fuses car off. one for some reason is still drawing power.

a ohm meter will tell you just how much power is being taken. a test light will only let you know if its hot or not.

Scotty, I think you are misreading what he is saying. Its not a draw with the car off, it is a draw with the car running. Sounds like the alternator is not charging. Doesn't mean the alternator is bad, but it could be a bad connection going back to the battery. I haven't messed with anything electrical on these cars yet so I don't know if there is an alternator fuse/fusible link that could be causing your issue. I know on my Stealth I once popped the fusible link and my alt couldn't charge the battery until that was replaced.

it dont really say running and or off. battery's get old and quit when they feel like it, if the battery was old and shot.

i assume its car off if its at 11.4 volts. if the alts tests fine it should show over 12 to 14 volts at the battery engine running.

Title says "dies after startup."

who takes the title seriously lol

but most cars wont even run on less then 12 volts.

being you had the engine out and issues with the starter and stuff, it is possible somethings not hooked up right. you do have the battery cable from the alt to the top of the fuse box hooked up right?

nice, that will work.

you have a cam, and a low idle?

the fuse box could be the problem with the cable.

in older cars, they would drop to 12+ volts at idle and go up with the rpm's why we hold the gas @ 1500 rpm's when jump starting a car, so it gets the full voltage.

my regal does this to a point, lights on the volts drop, turn em off the volts go back up, lower at idle then goes up a bit driving. its just the alt spinning faster and making more power.

As I said, it sounded like the alt wasn't charging the battery for some reason. Glad you got it solved (if not temporarily):thumbsup:

was it off the car when tested? if so thats why

something from the fuse box to the battery is off kilter.

Originally Posted by jayroca

Yeah stealth idk alt checked out fine at the auto parts store

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The alt is obviously fine if running a wire directly from it to the battery solved your issue. Your problem lies in the wiring/fuse box like Scotty said.