Listening to radio for an hour or so, try to start car, nothing. Battery reads good, jump it anyway, no crank at all. Replace starter, cranks and starts instantly. Drive around the block, car stalls, try to start, no crank. This time I jump it, and it starts right up.

Battery terminals read 14.8 V at idle. Alternator tabs read (big one) 14.8 V, (small one on top) ~8V, (small one on side) less than 1 V. Alternator gague in dash is in middle, moves slightly to the right when I turn on the lights, or anything electrical. Voltage reg and alternator are a year old, voltage regulator has good ground.

WADDAYA THINK? thanks guys.

 

Test the battery with a load test. A battery can internally short [the lead plates inside contact each other, therefore reducing the ampacity available]. And while it WILL show 14.8 volts, it can have NO current to back it up.

 

Could be miss adjusted neutral switch/shifter linkage, ign switch, starter relay. Try in drive or neutral . Next time try jumping the relay on the firewall, if it starts - starter is ok, next check to see if you get 12 volts on the relay (small wire) with the ign switch in the start position

 

I did jump the starter relay.....nothing, so that tells me at least part of the problem was the starter right? it DID start up when I swapped in a new one.

BUT what does it mean that it stalled out while it was running? Thats what made me think alternator, but then after i got it running again, i took the cable off the battery and it kept running.

 

just load tested the battery......pulled the wire from the coil and cranked it....measured 11.5 V the whole time. That's good, no?

WHAT THE HELL. sdlkfgjhlsdkf

 

That battery is toast

 

could you explain? not sure i have a full grasp on this yet....

 

My friend's battery tester confirmed that the battery is in fact toast.

I'm still wondering why I stalled out at idle though. A bad battery could do that?