hey guys having trouble with keeping the car running, anybody know lots of ways to find out if its my battery or alternator? tried "alternator running hot" method, charging the battery right now, i can start the car up no problem if its left for more than 20 minutes sitting, battery gauge goes right down after about 10-15 and car dies, alternator is not hot, battery is 6 months old and good if you know a couple ways for me to find out please, any help will be muchly appreciated
thanks, steve

 

where did you get battery from walmart? sounds like alt to me take it to advance auto and have them test it.

 

If the car can't stay running, I would say the alternator. Does the battery light stay on while running?

 

Sounds like the alternator.

 

i say get both the battery and alternator tested.It sounds more of a bad battery to me if dies after sitting 20 mins.However you are beating up both the battery and alternator by putting strain on them by one not working properly.You can remove both the alternator and battery have them tested at your local parts store.

 

k tried starting it and taking the positive terminal off, car shuts off, alternator for sure?

 

thats one thing you should never do!By doing that youre sending a voltage spike thru the electrical system in the car and you can cause damage that way especially to your computer

 

True but since he's gone and done it and the car died I'd say yeah the alt is bad.

 

actually thats not entirely true.I thought the trick in the old days was to pull the negative from the battery not the positive.Your car cant run off just the alternator, other wise we wouldnt have batteries to begin with.The alternator is supposed to recharge the battery not run the car on its own.

 

yeah well the alternator IS capable of holding a charge and keeping the car running even for a bit am i wrong? thats what i thought
im not too worried about damaging the computer as i only paid 2 grand for the car, not exactly a big investment, if anybody else has some good pointers that HAVENT been mentioned, send em my way pleasss!!