In my older cars the battery light always was on until the motor started. It was the default indication when I put the ignition key in and turned it a bit, but not enough to start the motor that powered the alternator. It was the alternator that switched the battery light off. So the battery light would only indicate to me that the motor is not running, which is precisely the problem. The oil pressure lamp should be on too, right?
I admit I have not paid attention to the lights in my new car before starting. I guess I would have noticed if it was different, but I cannot be sure. Will look next time, if I remember.
Ah, the good old Russian Method! But it is not a repair: technically speaking, it is a temporary fix.
Which is why I said this earlier in the same post:
You probably won’t be able to fit the same batteries that I have in my F350 into your compact car, but usually ye ol local battery shoppe can give you a couple of options for your particular vehicle. Their computer will usually list what batteries will actually fit and have the required configuration for the terminals to fit your vehicle’s limited space and the existing cable lengths.
The information is also available online. If you go to either Autozone or Advance Auto Parts and put in the make, model, year, engine, etc. for your specific vehicle, the web site will tell you which battery will fit.
I have an old F350 with the same issue. It’s a very common problem on old Ford trucks. I applied the common redneck engineering fix of jumpering out the switch at the wiring harness connector. That’s definitely not the recommended fix for it, but a lot of folks do it. I used a short piece of wire instead of the more common paperclip fix.
I will almost guarantee this is the battery, it is either virtually dead, faulty, or its the terminals. The lights going on does not mean there’s enough juice to start the car, or even turn it over.
This has always been my advice, too. But I recently learned it doesn’t work for some “newer” cars made over the past decade or two.
My son recently fixed up a 2012 Honda Accord. After he replaced some things, he started it up and measured the battery voltage. It was around 12.5 V. I said, “Uh oh, you have a bad alternator.” So he replaced the alternator. Afterwards he started it up and measured the battery voltage: 12.6 V. I told him to turn on the headlights. The voltage jumped up to 13.5 V! He turned off the headlights. The voltage stayed at 13.5 V for about a minute, and then went back down to 12.6 V.
My bad; the original alternator (probably) wasn’t faulty. I did some reading, and learned some vehicle manufacturers are using “smart charging” schemes in their power management systems. (Apparently Honda has been doing this for 20 years.) If your vehicle has one of these systems, a simple voltage measurement after starting the engine may not be adequate for determining the health of the alternator:
I bought this battery tester a couple years ago. It briefly places a load across the battery, measures the voltage drop, and then calculates CCA. It has paid for itself many times over. Here is a newer model that is even cheaper.
So, I checked out the fuses today, and both the one in the dashboard and the one in the engine compartment are intact, and when I turn the key, the starter relay clicks. Which is about the extent of what I can test or fix on my own, I think. I’ll be able to get it towed to the mechanic tomorrow.
The car is currently in my mom’s driveway, not mine, so I can’t check it every day. Fortunately, my place, my mom’s, and the mechanic are all within easy biking range of each other.
@Chronos , we seem to be having similar car issues. I was bemoaning my fate to another doper in a DM and he told me it seemed like it was a bad couple of days for dopers and their unfaithful, fickle starters/batteries/alternators.
My DM to him earlier this evening:
… Went to HyVee (my grocery store) to pick up a prescription. As I was leaving battery warning light came on, so I headed to the auto parts store think they could check my battery and put in a new one if I needed. Had 4 pints of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream melting in the 100+ degree heat index~I was really looking forward to some ice cream before bed this week. Fate had other plans.
My car died a few minutes after the auto parts store guy diagnosed my warning light as my alternator was gone, car was running on battery alone. I was going to limp home (my daughter’s at the moment since I am a storm evacuee following the tornado macroburst thunderstorms ended electricity at my home in Nebraska Wednesday) and take it straight to my mechanics in the morning but it died completely a few blocks later so had to get a tow. Kind strangers let me wait in their house while waiting for the tow and gave me ice water, then drove me home after the tow truck left. Genuinely kind strangers-a retired Lutheran minister and his wife, walking the walk…
I’m trying to not give up but wish karma had less faith in what I can handle. I’m at the end of a very long waiting list for an electrician to repair what I’m responsible for so that my electric utility will return and restore an overhead power line from the alley power pole. I’m learning far more than I wish I did about what storm damage home owner’s insurance doesn’t cover. c’est la vie. At least I’m not in a flood plain.
My Suburu got towed to my mechanic, key dropped in the lock box. Now I await the call in the morning about the prognosis~I have no idea what an alternator for a 2013 Suburu Outback cost but I bet I’m about to find out, since the battery tested as just fine and my symptoms were exactly like yours.
Next I need to figure what to do with 4 pints of now liquid Ben & Jerry’s ice cream my fellow doper suggested downing them as morning milkshakes, in which case I’m set for the next 4 days.
Hey, it’s all electricity:zap:, right? 240/120, alternators, they all have it in for us this week.
Yeah, but sometimes it’s not that clear. Wolfpup’s alternator was charging the battery intermittently–50% of the time.
I had a similar experience that cost me a lot of money and time before the problem was correctly diagnosed.
I had a Mazda MX-6. I think I owned it for 5-6 years, and for four of them I had this maddening problem. I would be driving and the interior lights would start getting dimmer and dimmer, and then the engine would stop running and would not restart. Alternatively, I would stop somewhere and then the car would not start again, with no prior symptoms.
It was a bad alternator, right? It would test bad and I got it replaced. Then it would start happening again. I’d take it in and they’d either say they couldn’t find anything–and the car would start and run fine for them after they charged up the battery. Or they would check it out and the alternator would be bad again.
I paid for 4 alternators in 4 years. First three were rebuilt ones, then for number 4, I paid for a brand new one both to rule out bad parts and because it came with a longer warranty.
That was the last one I needed, but not because it was any better. I just got a better symptom for diagnosing the problem. I was driving to a place an hour away. Around halfway, my interior lights started dimming, and it was getting really close to when the engine would normally quit. Then I hit a hard bump in the road, and everything came back on, full strength. Obviously something was loose or not properly connected.
I took it back to the mechanic, and they found the problem somewhere in the wiring path. There was a wiring connection that looked fine from the outside, but turned out to be corroded and rusted out on the inside. So the alternator was intermittently getting disconnected or barely connected, but sometimes it would “fix itself” temporarily by getting jostled into a better position. Fixing that fixed the problem, finally.
After fuses and terminal corrosion and other tool-free checks, I think I’d have replaced the battery.
I had an alternator fail during a ride home in a work van so the battery was discharging for some hours before things started to go weirdly wrong. I forget exactly what but stuff like the dashlights were turning on & off but different lamps in the cluster. I think the gauge needles were doing something weird, too. I ignored those but had to pull over when the radio appeared to turn off (blank display, no lights, controls didn’t function) but the audio kept playing. Luckily, I kept it running and guessed what happened and so was able to drive to a garage. They installed a fresh battery (but not a new Mercedes commercial van alternator!) and it got me and the van home.
OK, given humans in general, you probably DID have to ask… but yes.
It’s now at the mechanic (my second choice mechanic, since my preferred one didn’t have any room until Thursday or Friday), and he says he’ll probably get it taken care of by the end of the day. So we’ll find out soon.
If you don’t have tow coverage, and as it seems very likely it’s the battery, you could disconnect it and take it to batteries plus or other place where they can test it, recycle it, and sell you a new one to take back and install.
Just got a call from the mechanic. He said the battery is iffy, and left it up to me whether to replace it (I decided to), but the starter is definitely shot.
, right? 240/120, alternators, they all have it in for us this week.