Okay here it goes. So i went to start my car at work the other day and it wouldnt start, no power. So i get a jump let it idle, drive for about 15 min then i park at my girls place. Go inside, chill for about 45 min the leave and go back for about 3 hours. The car started no prob after the jump. I finally leave her house, go home and park in my garage, I start my car this morning, go to school park for 2.5 hours take my final start it up again wit no prob. Park in my garage... So now i went to start and its dead again, so i swapped the battery out of my 71 cougar and starts no prob. Take my old battery to auto zone, they check charge my battery (they said it was good) and check my charging system and say its good, but tell me the battery in the car is bad...im like wtf, that battery has sat in my cougar for 3 months since the last time i drove it and it worked fine. So they end up telling me my alternator is putting out 11.2v. I drive my car (with the bad battery in it) home, and let it idle for about 15 min and its fine. So i rev it up to about 3k to just see if it charges. **** it off and turn it on 5 min later, all good (bad battery still and charged battery on floor board). This brings me to now and i use the search button heavily, read a few things go out to start it and the damn thing is dead again. Read up on parasitic draw and now im askin yall for help...any advice?

mark

 

in my 93 sc3 i had bad charging problem and was only getting 7ish volts from the alternator. i got some 4 gauge wire and ran it to from the alt to + batter post and problem salved. is you battery light on the dash blinking?

 

Nope...no dash light blinking! I have 4 gauge wire on there now, Ill check and possibly replace the wire! Thanks...

 

There could be a partial draw from the alternator. It could be coming from something else plugged in. If you have something like a battery charger for your phone or some other kind of charging device that could be taking away power. That or you left a light on and your not telling us lol. How many miles are on the car? Has the starter been changed before? Asking because if you have the correct cranking amps and it is charging you might have some dead spots on the starter.

 

Hmm...i didnt leave any lights on and nothing is plugged in. My cig lighter is unpluged because for some strange reason when it is plugged in and my climate is working the fuse pops! Maybe the electrical gremilin from some of the other people here found its way down to imperial beach and jumped in the only sc down here! Would yall recomend a new alt and battery and cables or try and diagnose it? Electrical work is such a pain.

 

Saying if there isn't anything else you could find yes. Make sure that your power steering isn't leaking on your alternator. That fries them and could also cause a power loss issue. If the ground cables are old and messed up go for it also. Make sure there isn't corrosion where the ground points are. If there is a internal short between the leads plates in a battery that could be another issue. The call is yours and how much your willing to spend.

 

I recharged the battery at autozone. I haven't had a problem since then...its weird. I may have a slow leak in my ps hose. Ill replace that at the earliest time possible. Thanks for the advice. Ill probably replace the wires just to be on the safe side!