battery or altenator problem? help?

[Samm928]

ok. so the light on the battery comes on. after a while of driving for a week or so like that .. it starts to want to stall and lose power cause of battery or altenator. today i chartged up the battery cause its rechargable.. but after about 15mins of driving the light comes on again. whats wrong? altenator or battery? i thought after you turn it on the rest of the power is generated by the altenator. any help please :)

[yourfather]

look, probably a variety of things, but if your batt is flat and you start the vehicle and your battery is fine after driving around for a while, ur batt was just flat. if you start it and drive it around and when you stop and try to start it, and its flat, your batt is fuct.

if you can start the car by charging it or push starting it and then you get lights on and it stops turning over or it wont start if you stop it, its most likely your alternator isnt providing enough power to the electrical systems...

key is - if the batt is flat to begin with, does it charge. if yes, its ur batt, if no, no charge, it can be either batt or alternator, but youd need to check the current going into the battery to ascertain the cause of the problem.

if your motor is running and theres no current from the alternator, then thats the issue

[aaronng]

From what you explain with your charged battery, it seems that the alternator is faulty.

[Samm928]

thanks guys :)

[thepope1986]

put a multimeter on the battery start the car and make sure its staying around 13.5-14v (ish) if its a lot lower then the alternator isnt charging properly and will need to be rebuilt. if when checking the battery you get random spikes of 16+ volts then the regulator is shot and will need to be replaced. you can also go to a battery place or somewhere that has a proper battery checker and test the batterys CCA rating which is its Cold Cranking Amps which tells you how many amps it can store to turn the starter motor. if you dont know where to do that put the multimeter on the battery again and start the car if the battery voltage drops below 10v the battery is cactus. lol bit over the top there but it should give you a rough idea what to look at

[SHOGUNOVDDRK]

Alternator

[55EXX]

alternator x2

[paps02]

it sounds to me like it could be that there is a collapsed cell in the battery.

take it to a battery shop and they can test (for free) both your battery and your alternator. pray it isnt ur alternator

[Samm928]

its my altenator. bought a new one from honda for $100 through my aunty cause she owns a auto spares parts and has a contract with them. getting it fitted for $50 off a mate tomorow :) thankss :)

[OMG.JAI xD]

good move.
alternator for sure.
battery is used to only start the car and hold charge.
altenator does all the work once car is running.
=]

[55EXX]

$100 you did well mate! upgrade you cabling to 1/0 ga while your there

[paps02]

when i called honda they couldnt even give me a PART NUMBER.