Car Question

[thefuzz]

16 hours ago, Happy Panther said:

Could this also be an alternator issue?

Possible, but not likely.

They probably checked the output before giving him a free battery at Sams.

 

Likely causes:  Parasitic drain, or bad battery.

[thefuzz]

13 hours ago, Goondal said:

This came to mind as well.  It would seem to me though that if the alternator was not charging the battery that the battery would not have been fine last Monday and then all week but then die again over the weekend.  Obviously the battery is being charged, for whatever reason it is not holding it over long periods sitting.  Like I said though, I know so little about cars that this logic could easily be faulty.

Figured I would quote you, so you could see what I just typed.  I would imagine that Sams checked your alternator output before giving you a free battery.

 

[Goondal]

Sounds good.  I have a training tomorrow right next door to an Autozone.  Will just get it checked afterwards just in case.  If that is good then I will just keep an eye on it to see if the battery is struggling.

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

9 hours ago, KSpan said:

A weak alternator could absolutely cause intermittent dead batteries and shortened battery life - we just went through this exact scenario with our 2005 minivan and a weak (and subsequently dead) alternator was the root cause. Go to AutoZone or somewhere and ask them to check your alternator just in case. We had to replace my wife's alternator in her 2005 Focus at around 100K miles as well, though that was an instant death and not prolonged weak performance.

i just went through this myself.  my alternator had been slowly crapping out over the course of several weeks before it finally started howling like a banshee and gave out for good.