Car wont hold a charge.

[DOOM]

Bad cell...

[Mest30]

Originally Posted by Spectragod

Start with a charged and good battery, the battery terminals are supposed to be torqued to 17" pounds(that's inch pounds, not foot pounds), make sure that when the car is at idle, with accessories on, AC, rear window defroster, headlights, then you can measure 13+ volts at the battery terminal minimum, it will(and should) be around 14.4 volts with the car running.

Check the voltage on the lug on the back of the alternator with the car running with the above accessories on, the voltage should be the same or a little higher at the alternator, if the difference is huge, the cables are probably bad.

Those thing need checked before checking for parasitic loss.

I appreciate all your help, but you need to dumb it down. Pretend you're talking to a five year old. What tool do I need to check the voltage and how do I locate the alternator? And Doom, what's a cell?

[MyBlackBeasts]

Originally Posted by Mest30

I appreciate all your help, but you need to dumb it down. Pretend you're talking to a five year old. What tool do I need to check the voltage and how do I locate the alternator? And Doom, what's a cell?

Ok, gotcha. Jumpstart the car, drive to shop. Let them charge battery, test, diagnose and repair if needed.

When repaired, get a storage maintenence charger, hook up (even u can do this) and plug in while parked.

[Mest30]

Took the car to the shop finally. They said they checked the charging system and everything was fine. They believe the hood light is staying on. They took off the bulb and let the car sit for a day and it started fine. Hopefully that was the only problem.

[ctrlraven]

I kept having a dead battery in my 89 Mustang, come to find out passenger vanity light mirror was staying on.