I replaced my battery about a month ago and have been good since, although a lot of drama went with it. Last night I got in my truck and the battery light came on for the first time ever, which means my battery isnt charging properly. So I popped the hood, and my terminals were all corroded. I have had the same setup for 4 years and never had any probs and all of a sudden I am having a ton of problems at once. I have a 10" sub with a 1200w amp wired with I believe 1 guage power supply, done by a friend of mine that is a professional car audio installer. However it is obviously causing a lot of draw, enough to constantly corrod my connections on a brand new battery. I think I need to replace my connector, which are stock and dont get a good connection. Do you guys think this will fix it? or if that light is on would that mean my alternator is going?

When I last replaced my battery they said my alternator was charging fine. Ideas? I am at work now with a low battery charge and will not get off until most garages are closed either. I might go to autozone on my lunch break, but last time I went there they wanted to either charge my battery for 2 hrs before testing anything, or make me take out my alternator for a bench test.

 

bump....I am leaving for a 10 day roadtrip on saturday too.

 

I would unhook the amp and see if this happens again. I think you have a draw from something when the truck is off, draining the battery.

 

I would think that if my battery were just dead, but it started and has power, although I think it isnt recharging itself now. The battery light just came on all of a sudden.

 

Replace the terminals with some good aftermarket ones, use those "corrosion inhibitor" pads, and a bit of dielectric grease, that should help tons with the corrosion with a heavy draw.

 

Put on the pads and grease with the new battery, but I am going to try and replace the connectors today. I bought some last night. The bolt for the ground is stripped and I couldnt get it off last night, which I think is why my batttery is not recharging, I couldnt get it off to clean it. It just pisses me off when stuff goes wrong that you cant just fix, you have to spend soo much time testing solutions. Plus I have never hada problem, and havnt changed anything.

 

went to autozone, they tested and said my alternator was powering low. Gonna take it out and have it rebuilt tomorrow hopefully. Gonna replace the terminals while I am at it. Hopefully that will do the trick, dont wanna take my sub out, couldnt stand to listen to music for 10 days without it. Plus it has work great for so long. Maybe i should upgrade to a better alternator??

 

New Duralast gold is 175 from autozone btw

 

find a local rebuilder and talk to him about rebuilding it for more output. Alot of time is comes out to about the same cost, and they can usually have it done same day.

 

Got a similar problem as well.

I have a 4 month old Interstate Megatron II battery, but my original 7 year old alternator.

I was just driving down the highway this evening when I looked down and noticed my battery light was on and the voltage was getting low.

So I pull over and bust out my volt meter and with the truck turned off, the battery measured 12.2v and with it running measured 12.4v. It starts fine after repeated starts, yet the voltage stays low and never raises, even after boosting the battery.

Sounds like an alternator problem?

 

yup. Should be around 14.2V when running.

 

well, I guess 7 years and 260k miles, the alternator has done it's job lol.

That sucks. Now I have to replace it and spend MORE money.

 

$261 CDN for a new 95amp alternator. Ouch. Took me about an hour to re & re. Alternators are pretty easy on 4.0's!

Good thing it died on me when it did, cuz I'm driving 2100 miles across the country in 2 weeks.