Car Battery or Alternator out?

HondaChick_3

My car (Honda Accord) won't start. It will take a jump but once I turn it off, it won't start again. Is this the battery or alternator? What are the symptoms of each?

Thanks.

Jamp

How soon do you switch it off again after the jump (i.e. has it had a chance to charge)? How old is the battery? Did anything set off the failure (has the car been standing for more than a couple of days)?

Use a multimeter to check the voltage across the (charged) battery with everything off. Also do the same with the engine on, then report back to us - should then be able to have a fair guess at where your problem lies.

Alternatively a garage would almost certainly do this for you for free, if they thought they were going to sell you either a battery or alternator.

epninety

As Jamp said, get it checked (5mins at a friendly garage) or get a meter and measure voltages. However, do it soon, or you may soon find the answer to your question is "Both".

Alternators can be damaged by running too hot due to operating with bad batteries.

steveo3002

could be either

halford and most motorist shop will do a free check....id suggest you take thier free check then discover you dont have enough ££££for their replacement part and go shop around for a cheap one

halfords are expensive for batterys

you could try taking it for a 30min ride and seeing if that puts any charge back into the battery....does the battery warning lamp light up on the dash?

HondaChick_3

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to the neighborhood garage now to have them do a check...

By the way, the battery is 3 years old and the alternator is almost 4 years old.

Stephen_Leak

The chances are that it is the battery. With normally available test equipment (ie. a multimeter) you cannot really test the battery - even a relatively flat one will still give a reading of about 12 volts. However, with the engine running, a reading of about 14 volts across the battery terminals indicates that the alternator is charging OK.

mikenco

Stephen is correct, a voltmeter will not give an accurate state of a car battery.

Ask your local garage to do a 'capacity' check on the battery for you.

Be careful if you do not know what you are doing under the bonnet, car batteries can be dangerous.

Rgds

Mike
(IAM member)

vaio

mikenco wrote: »

.....Be careful if you do not know what you are doing under the bonnet, car batteries can be dangerous.......


Especially if you manage to short it out with a wedding ring
End result is a nasty burn and a blob of gold on the floor

Alias_Omega

If you have AA cover, ring them and get them to check it. They will test the alternator and the battery and tell you what is wrong, and try to fit it.

Then you can ring the garage and tell them what is wrong with it.

If it is the alternator, its not a hard job. If its the battery, thats not hard too..

Worst bit is putting codes back into radio's and setting clocks up again.

manda1205

ts_aly2000 wrote: »

I had just this yesterday, ...and about 6-months ago. For these occasions I have a multimeter which plugs into the cigarette socket telling you if the alternator is charging.

Batteries are good for about 2-years+.

Sorry but do you really need a machine to tell you your alternators had it? A couple of weeks ago I went to get home from shopping, first off me and my mum had to push start car, this was normal as the battery had been playing up for ages. Next we're half way home and the cd player stops, just the radio on, next radio goes, then the airbag light comes on, then the battery light (at which point I knew we didn't have long and that it was the alternator), then we're about a mile from home and it start missing like mad, managed the last mile flat out in 2nd gear. Conked out right outside my drive! Now although my dads a mechanic and Im just a "dumb blonde" I was well aware it was the alternator and I did not need to buy a machine to tell me this.
Also If you mean that batterys only last 2years, where do you get your batterys from? I had a g reg fiesta and when the battery went on that 8years later my dad checked the old one and it was the original ford battery!