help442onguam

Greetings everyone

This is kinda stressful , I hope i can find some help , so I'm driving at night and my lights slowing fade to stop working and I park my car then it won't start , I haven't tried to troubleshoot yet it's a bit late but hopefully Somone can chin in please

JPMDaddy

sounds like battery died... you may have a bad alternator not charging the battery properly, eventually the headlights would then run the battery dead....

depending on the age of battery, it may hold a charge again once the charging system is working or you may need a new one along with a new alternator.

auto parts stores can test both....

Octania

A voltage reading on the system, like at the battery terminals, would be a good start.

Alt belt loose or missing?

Terminals on battery not corroded or loose...

what year and model?

svnt442

Sounds like a classic charging issue to me. Depending on the car it could be the alternator, voltage regulator, both or a loose/missing belt.

1970cs

X2 on what Chris said, more clues! The crystal ball needs help.

Pat

oldcutlass

I agree with the above. Sounds like a charging issue.

stellar

Not enough EMF to overcome the resistance. Add emf to the battery and check system.

pogo69

alternator is kaput

MDchanic

Simple troubleshooting first, as above...

- Eric

redoldsman

Before you rip the car all apart, make sure your alternator belt is tight. When I was in Viet Nam in 69-70, my wife had trouble with our 65 Grand Prix the whole year with the battery going dead. It was a loose alternator belt.

jaunty75

Do you have a voltage gauge or an indicator light? In either case, I would have expected the GEN light to go on or the voltage gauge to show a low number if the battery was being discharged, so you should have had some warning before the lights died and the car rolled to a stop at the side of the road unable to be started. The whole point of the indicator light or gauge is to warn you of a problem like this before it gets to the point it got with your car.

BangScreech4-4-2

I'm sure he wouldn't have driven it far if a warning light was on. And I'm sure he would have mentioned it in OP.

jaunty75

I agree he would have said something, but the point is, WHY didn't the GEN light or whatever go on? The type of problem he's describing is exactly the kind of problem that should trigger the GEN light or show up as a loss of voltage on a gauge. It seems that he has a problem with the warning light circuit as much as he has a problem with anything else.

help442onguam

Thanks everyone , ok I jump my car drove it and the same thing happened so I'm guessing the battery is good its 3 months old . So its extremely frustrating because I just had the engine rebuilt and I don't want to ever visit the shop again that did the work because they will say I did something to it to avoid doing anything extra . So I'm leaning toward new alternater year 1985 cutlass broham

BangScreech4-4-2

Yes, I see ... good point. OnGuam, can you in fact confirm that no warning light came on?

oldcutlass

Have you put a voltmeter on the battery with the engine running?

Octania

New is not the same as good
assume no such thing

verify that the GEN or ALT lite comes on if the charging system is not working- e.g. ignition on but engine not started yet.

Apply the volt meter to the battery before and after starting the engine, note the readings.

Have alt and new battery tested at the local store as need be

Brand new battery can be bad.

1970cs

X2 on what Eric has said. Get the meter out and see if it's charging. It should read 12.6 volts sitting and rise as the RPM's rise to may be 14 and change.

Now we know what car it is, the alternator is internally regulated. Assuming nobody has monkeyed with it.

Pat