Car people, halp!

[Spiffums]

Sounds like your alternator is shot.

Yup! Same think happened on my Jeep just a month after I bought it. At least you got some warning signs. Most batteries these days just give it up without a warning.

[zenkai]

While your car is running, pull the positive cable off your battery, if it dies its your alternator. If it runs, it's your battery. Or go to Autozone/wallmart and have them check your output with a gauge

It's possible your alternator is working but just well enough to keep the car running

[Vash The Stampede]

OTOH, I'm not sure - it's an Autozone cheap-o.

And the multimeter when the car was running was ~14. Haven't done it with anything turned on / car off yet, because it's completely dead.

You had the leads from the meter wrong. Doesn't matter, it's 14 volts.

For those curious.. voltmeter'd it today, the alternator was pulsing from 9-11, sometimes hitting 14.

It's dead jim.

At no point should the alternator drop to 9-11. When that happens, the car is running off the battery and slowly draining it. The alternator is intermediately failing and that's why some days it works and some days you can't start it. BTW doesn't the Dodge Neon have a voltage gauge on the dash? A quick Google tells me it does not.

Replace the alternator and it should be fine, given the battery wasn't damaged by the faulty alternator. I prefer NAPA parts but since they're all rebuilt it doesn't matter. Do a core exchange with the old alternator and replace it yourself. If your father helps it should be easy, and the most it'll cost is $100-$!50. Keep the receipt cause rebuilt alternators are sometimes bad themselves. Ask me how i know. Keep it for a good year cause I've had Autozone alternators go bad that quickly. Just a warning.

Or if you really want to save money, get it on Rockauto. Given you don't mind waiting for the part to be delivered. Quick look shows that "TYC 213735 {#4794222AD}" is $93 with no core. And it's new, not rebuilt.
www.rockauto.com

lol just lol...oh sorry. forgot im just supposed to sideline lololol.

Turns out I was right. Here's your special ACE sticker. Sorry I meant ASE, cause I'm sure someone out there cares. Now go back to changing breaks and changing oil. I'll make you replace tires, cause I know how much your type hates doing that stuff.

[Vanyali]

You had the leads from the meter wrong. Doesn't matter, it's 14 volts.


At no point should the alternator drop to 9-11. When that happens, the car is running off the battery and slowly draining it. The alternator is intermediately failing and that's why some days it works and some days you can't start it. BTW doesn't the Dodge Neon have a voltage gauge on the dash? A quick Google tells me it does not.

Replace the alternator and it should be fine, given the battery wasn't damaged by the faulty alternator. I prefer NAPA parts but since they're all rebuilt it doesn't matter. Do a core exchange with the old alternator and replace it yourself. If your father helps it should be easy, and the most it'll cost is $100-$!50. Keep the receipt cause rebuilt alternators are sometimes bad themselves. Ask me how i know. Keep it for a good year cause I've had Autozone alternators go bad that quickly. Just a warning.

Or if you really want to save money, get it on Rockauto. Given you don't mind waiting for the part to be delivered.
www.rockauto.com

Gonna replace & battery test tomorrow... grabbing an alternator from autozone because the dealer-made one isn't available at all anymore, and autozone is the only thing near here.

Can't wait much time for it to be delivered 'cause i'll need it next week Going to replace battery cables while I'm at ti though, except the positive is gonna take 2-10 days for delivery because autozone doesn't carry them /sigh

And I have a box that receipt will go into. Because I don't trust car parts anymore

[Piglord]

I haven't read all the replies here, so if this has been mentioned before I apologize. If the other advice doesn't pan out. I had a truck in high school that would do something similar. I tested the alternator, battery, everything I could think of. What mine turned out to be was the switch that controlled the light in the glove box shorted out. When you closed the glove box the light wouldn't shut off. I've heard of other people having issues with trunk lights, light under the hood, console lights also staying on. I also drained a battery once in a vehicle that was parked a while because I left a charger plugged in and the red light slowly drained the battery.

[Vash The Stampede]

Gonna replace & battery test tomorrow... grabbing an alternator from autozone because the dealer-made one isn't available at all anymore, and autozone is the only thing near here.

Surprised you tried the dealer cause the parts from them are extremely expensive. But yea if you don't have the time then Autozone it.

[Vanyali]

Surprised you tried the dealer cause the parts from them are extremely expensive. But yea if you don't have the time then Autozone it.

yeaaah dealer is never my first choice. $150 for the cables, noty.

- - - Updated - - -

I haven't read all the replies here, so if this has been mentioned before I apologize. If the other advice doesn't pan out. I had a truck in high school that would do something similar. I tested the alternator, battery, everything I could think of. What mine turned out to be was the switch that controlled the light in the glove box shorted out. When you closed the glove box the light wouldn't shut off. I've heard of other people having issues with trunk lights, light under the hood, console lights also staying on. I also drained a battery once in a vehicle that was parked a while because I left a charger plugged in and the red light slowly drained the battery.

I'll keep an eye out for this once the alternator is replaced, since it's now measuring awful on a scale of one to ten.