uh oh?

[Chabs]

my car is in the garage for the winter and the battery died. the car really doesnt like the cold. i was just outside giving it a boost to start it up and have it run for a bit. it ran fine once the battery got enough of a charge, but when i unhooked the booster cables, it stayed on for about 20 seconds and turned off. is it just the fried battery not holding a charge? or something else? should i be worried?

[Wh33lhop]

Your alternator is most likely dead. Take it to autozone or something and have them check it.

[wodcutr]

How muck voltage did your battery test at?

[damith]

Your alternator is most likely dead. Take it to autozone or something and have them check it.

Wh33lhop is correct. It sounds like your alternator is done. Same thing happend to me and turned out to be dead alternator.

[Fidhle007]

Definitely a dead alt.

[AndrewBird]

You should NEVER run a car on just the alternator and a dead battery. Overloads the alternator and kills it. This is likely what happened. Charge the battery with a charger first, then put it back in the car.

[Chabs]

thanks guys, but I don't know how it could be the alternator. The car turned on fine 2 weeks ago, it was idling for over half an hour and I took it for a quick drive around the neighbourhood. I took the battery out and put it in my furnace room to warm up, its been pretty cold out lately. I'm really hoping its just a cold-ass battery

[Hick]

Have them checked before doing any big purchases.

If the battery is super low it will take a while for the charge to come up. Ive seen cars run on 7.5v before [91 318is, so dont get fancy] Did not run well, but it would sit and idle.

Im willing to bet that it is not the alternator, but a slow draw on the battery. Mainly because you had it running for 30+ minutes

[Chabs]

thats also what im thinking, it was running really well two weeks ago, just in the past week or so its been almost down to -20 at some points.

[barry]

Batteries go dead when sitting.. Best thing is taking battery from car and setting it on a thick piece of wood and keep it charged.
Get a new battery..
Good luck
Barry

[whatt18yahoo]

charge the battery put it in the car start it good luck

if that fails take battery and alternator to test

[TexasTerp]

To beat a dead horse at this point. If you're gonna garage a car, then take out the battery and put it on a charger! Go get your alternator checked at Autozone.

[Fidhle007]

It's the alternator. If it wasn't, the car would run even with the battery disconnected. Seriously people...

[Wh33lhop]

Batteries go dead when sitting.. Best thing is taking battery from car and setting it on a thick piece of wood and keep it charged.
Get a new battery..
Good luck
Barry

Do not go out and blindly get a new battery. Have the original one TESTED and see how many CCA's it's putting out.

The battery is not your main problem. We've already told you what to do, now go do it. Worst case, you waste 20 minutes and your alternator still works.