Well, today my truck crapped out again. I assume it was the alternator because of what happened.

1. The EBrake light, battery light, and A/T oil temp light all came on at the same time. The EBrake wasn't on, and the A/T oil temp was fine, so I assumed it was just a wireing problem.

2. When the truck finally died, I got it jumped, started driving home, and it died again. Jumped it again, let it charge for a little, and right when I disconnected the jumper cables, it died.

I checked the water in the battery and everything was fine except that one of holes where you put the water in looked like it had corrosion in the water.

The battery is only 3 months old so I would assume it is the alternator, except the thing with the water in the battery. Has this ever happened to anyone (I mean with the lights coming on and the battery thing)? Thanks.

 

Good way to check the alternator is start your car, then disconnect the negative battery cable and see if it chokes. Make sure you have some of your auxiliary stuff on like stereo (mid volume), A/C, etc. That way you can accurately recreate the amount of current you would normally draw.

If the engine dies, it's the alternator.

Good luck.

 

You can also hook up a volt meter to the battery. you should get a reading of 14volts +. If its under 12v then you are is going or gone

 

Don't do this, on newer cars it can damage things.

 

Hey guys thanks for the input. The mechanic called this morning and it turns out that the alternator belt is actually gone! Well, that would explain the wierd black thing (I guess what was left of the belt cause it was the thinckness of a piece of string!!!) I pulled off the bottome of the truck a week ago