Ok guys checking in with you....... as to the reply about "super jumping" his jeeps batteries are wired in parallel so that did not do anything to my car (we compete in car audio) ...... i have checked my grounds and terminals and they all seem clean and in good condition. I brought the battery to have it tested and there was a dead cell in it. I had it exchanged and put the battery in and my cat fired up with no effort. Now i am ruling out a bad ground since it is running off just the battery with no extra grounding from another vehicle. ....... heres what i was told for an at home alternator check to see if it is charging......... i was told to start the car, then take a screw driver or something that can be magnetized and touch it to the alternators rear bearing cap. If it sticks it is charging. If not my alternator is not charging? anyone agree or disagree with this?

 

woh never heard that one before so dont know. what is the volts when running and when not running? if it goes from 12 not running to 13 or so when runnin then its workin. best way is to have the alternator tested. most all parts stores wont charge to do that in hopes of getting your business. must have had a really bad cell in that battery.

 

Internally, the alternator acts like an electromagnet, which is why anything metal will be attracted to the center. But that test will tell if your alternator isn't working, if nothing sticks. Since that "test" doesn't tell how well the alternator is putting out if it is working, you still need to use a meter to know what's up......or down. You can have a "working" alternator, but where it's unable to keep up with demand.

 

I will be testing when i get out of work tonight and will bring my multimeter home to see whats going on there........im familar with car electrical. I should be resting at 12 or a little higher and charging at 14.4 ....... i will see what type of voltage im getting and check back in..... also my co worker said he has an alternator tester ( pretty much what an auto parts store will use) to put a load on it to see if it will charge. Thanks for all the quick responses guys! I will be reporting to ya tonight with my readings