[vtsuckah]

I recently moved and have had to store my mkII at my brother's townhouse for the past 4 months. Anyways, I went to move my mkII to my new residence and it was completely dead. I jumped it, and it started. I let it run for about 10 minutes, and flipped on my headlights. The car died immediately. I repeated this two more times with the same results. The problem is that I bought a brand new battery about 3 months ago, and there is no way that my alarm could deplete it so quickly b/c I have started/run my car once or twice a month.

The headlights making the car die is pretty puzzling. Do you think that it's my alternator?

 

[MR2 Josh]

Do any gauge lights come on when you turn the lights onright before it dies? What does the volt gauge do when you turn the lights on as well? It's possible that it's the alternator.

 

[vtsuckah]

It's hard to describe. When i turned my light switch on, the gages turned on and once i turned the knob to my headlights, the car imediately started to stutter/flicker, then died all together. My volt guage was reading 14-16 volts when i was just idling(without lights). When I turned on my head lights, it immediately dropped to zero after it stuttered for a second or two.

This might also help.....when I reved my engine, my dome/door lights would dim also. Before I jumped my car the first time, i read the battery power percentage with a charger that I have. It read 0%. When I finally gave up after the 3rd time, I checked the battery again. It read 5.8%. So this does display that the alternator was charging the battery. I slow charged my battery all night long. I'll see what happens with a fresh battery today. It just puzzles me, b/c this head light thing has never happened, even when I jumped my old "dead" battery.

 

[PETC]

Well, this will sound stupid...

But it's either a battery or an aleternator problem. lol

 

[vtsuckah]

Well, this will sound stupid...

But it's either a battery or an aleternator problem. lol

Ya think? could be a bad ground, etc

 

[PETC]

Unlikely... but maybe something corroded while it was sitting and now it overloads or something? I dunno... check your grounds.

 

[vtsuckah]

Problem solved. Slow charged the battery, sanded down all connections/grounds, installed, and after some hiccups from the alarm ignition kill......VROOM. Battery was not discharging once running, so the alternator is fine. All is geeewd.