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New Car Battery died after 1 day?

So... After 5-6 years my last car battery seemed to die. I couldn't unlock my car (1986 firebird) with my keys, so luckily the left door was open and I could get inside and pop the hood.

After a long while, and some jump starts (the car died after a few seconds), we just went out and got a new battery at autozone. Their tester was broke, so we couldn't see if the battery was the problem.

Put the new battery in... Worked fine. Later I drove it out to test it.

Drove 15 miles to store. Parked. Went back to it, and it worked fine.

An hour later I drove it 25 miles. Parked. Went back to it 2 hours later and drove it home. Worked fine.

Today, about 14 or so hours later, I can't unlock the doors again. Left door unlocked, I got inside and turned the key... nothing.

So. Is my new battery dead, or is it probably my alternator? (Which was working well enough to get me places.)

INFO on alternator if that is probably the case.

Friday evening it was sounding weird... Like it was buzzing/whirring. Still working, but my car stalled at a stop light for like 3 seconds or so.

Still whirring later, but working nonetheless. Then the battery died the next day.

Still whirring all the way up until now, because I simply cannot turn the car on.

7 Answers

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  • 9 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    What happened is those few jump starts without charging the battery are what caused the alternator diode to burn out and create the short to ground that discharged your new battery.

    You need to take the alternator off and bring it to a parts store for a bench test which checks the diodes.

    On computer driven cars it is not good to jump start them and then just drive them without getting the battery on a battery charge. This is what happens.

  • 5 years ago

    My neighbor had a similar challenge and the 'experts" at Firestone provide her a $500 music-up. did no longer do something for the challenge she had complained approximately. on a similar time as she became out of state for a week in California she left her automobile interior the storage and that i appeared after her homestead. whilst she got here homestead, her automobile would not initiate. She had reported that if she did no longer force it each 2 days the battery might run down and the motor vehicle would not initiate. The storage became cool and the 1st element I appeared at became her cellular-telephone means furnish plugged into the cigarette lighter. It became heat on a similar time as something ot the motor vehicle became cool. there became a sticky label on the area of the cellular-telephone means furnish that reported, "do no longer pass away plugged in whilst no longer in use." bounce started her automobile and advised her to pass away this tiny means furnish unplugged whilst she wasn't applying it. challenge solved. That became all she had to do all alongside. different challenge I stated became whilst she had her battery replaced (her first attempt to therapy the challenge) the installer did no longer placed the battery carry down (Clamp like thingy) back the place it belonged so her battery became sliding around on appropriate of the battery tray. this could reason a short if the battery terminals touch something under the hood. those events are normally called a "parasitic draw". a save that makes a speciality of electric paintings can diagnose and restore those issues very effectively. could desire to take under an hour to diagnose and repir maximum parasitic attracts. good success!

  • Anonymous
    9 years ago

    An alternator will make a whining noise when a diode goes bad in the diode pack. The battery can discharge through it.

  • 9 years ago

    From what you say, it sounds like it may be the alternator. It could just be dying slowly. Get that checked out and that should open some curtains for ya. Good luck!

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  • 4 years ago

    1

  • Richie
    Lv 6
    9 years ago

    Are the cables connecting to the battery okay? I had some ratty ones on mine that weren't making a proper connection, once I replaced those it was fine.

  • Mech
    Lv 6
    9 years ago

    I'm guessing it's the alternator.

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