about 3 weeks ago my alternator took a **** on me....i was getting the 0304 (i think) cel's etc etc...replaced the alternator and ran like a champ. So now here I am yesterday going to get in my car...fire it up...back out the driveway...turn on my headlights and fogs...and ding ding.."low battery" ...so i get pissed off..put it back in the garage..turn lights off and I see my voltage guage go back up a lil...mess with windows lights etc etc trying to see how much it goes down...Turn off the car...turn it back on...no light...turn on my lights ..voila...low battery

Is it possible its my alternator again? I did notice my car shocks me everytime i get out of it...could I have a bad ground somewhere?

any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

fuse?...just a thought....or maybe something is drawing power while you're car is off....something that you don't always have plugged in?

 

who installed the alternator? i would recheck that installation, make sure theres nothing simple out of the ordinary first, then i would have a shop or yourself if capable to find out if there is to much voltage being drawn when vehicle is off.

 

check relays and fuzes

 

Did you say it "shocks you" ? I had a truck once with cloth seats and when I slid on them to get out I would get a static electric shock. If it's not something like that , then you definitely have something wrong ...

 

I wouldn't doubt if it is the alternator. I'd get out your multimeter and do some testing. Just a simple voltage check across the battery leads will determine if it is charging or not. Compare the voltage with the car off, to with the car running. With the car running it should be 13.x.

On my 94 Ranger the alternator went out. Replaced it with a Napa unit. 6 months and 2 more alternators later I finally got a good one. It's been good for 3 years now.

Family members 03 Focus...same deal except I went to Autozone and it was in a 3 month timeframe. One of the three didn't even work out of the box.

Quality control on reman. alternators is very poor! But once you get a working one you should be good to go.