[问题] Which is dead, Alternator or Battery ?

[gaosan]

1. My Van has not been used at all for past week. It gets started on Dec 28th as normal.
2. After been driven for 5 KM, parking for about 50 min, not sure lights is on or off, the car can not started.
3. Get jump-start, drive to home (another 5KM). I notice meters/readings under dashboard were flicking on the way home, similar like fluorescent tube.
4. Charging Voltage fluctuated between 14.00~14.50 on battery terminals. It may drop to 10 Volt when using power lock. The engine stays idle for 20 min. Then it is dead.
5. Jump-start again, after less than 10 min., the engine stops again.
6. With jump cable connected, using another car to charge the battery for one hour, charging voltage is steady at 14.50 V at the battery terminals. My car can not start by its own battery.
7. Then jump-start again. The engine stops in less than 30 min.

Where is the problem? Alternator or Battery? Many thanks.

 

[dragon11]

alternator

I guess the alternator or the cable has problem.

 

[gaosan]

Re: alternator

最初由 dragon11 发布
I guess the alternator or the cable has problem.

I got battery changed, not sure this is the problem ot not. The battery is five years old. I change it because this is what I can DIY. Time will tell which part is problem. I will update this later.

 

[另龙庭]

what is the update?

Hi, My car has the exact same problem. It happended before similar to the way you described.

It was fixed by itself. Recently it broke down after severl engine stalling. I tried starting it many times until the battery is dead. I have been able to get a boost yet. I would really like to hear about the updates about your van.

Thanks.

 

[gaosan]

Re: Re: alternator

The battery is dead. I charged it with home made charger, when the charger was on , the voltage jump to 16.0 volt measured at terminals. After 24 hours, I tested it with a 12v 20w lamp, the voltage droped to 8 Volt. So the battery do es not hold any electricity now.

Lesson learnt from this:

Never put battery into deep discharge stage. It may get damaged even deep discharge one time. My battery always did a great job before this suddenly death. It is too hard for me to believe one time discahrge ruining the battery.

I got a new battery from Costco for $55 before tax, same battery in Walmart or Canadian Tir cost > $80 before tax.

最初由 gaosan 发布


I got battery changed, not sure this is the problem ot not. The battery is five years old. I change it because this is what I can DIY. Time will tell which part is problem. I will update this later.