I had some similar stuff happen to me last month. At first I thought it was the alternator, but luckily it turned out to be a bad ground in the fuse box. Works fine now.

 

Best of luck dude

 

Hmm, hopefully its something simple.

 

Keep us posted

 

Im gonna hook the alternator tomorrow morning, clean up the battery, clean all the connections on the alternator, trace my grounds, and look in the fuse box to see if anythings looks off. May pull the starter since its only 2 bolts holding it and go have it tested even though I dont think thats it. I am still voting battery

 

Guy at the dealer said replace both, but I was under the impression that the bench test for the alternator was pretty darn accurate. I really dont want to waste money, and then again I dont want to put the old alternator in there buy a new battery, and have to take everything out again cause its the alternator.

 

I don't trust the auto parts store guys. They usually aren't mechanics and they have too much turn over for me to trust them with anything technical. There are some good ones but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule. No offense to any auto parts store employees out there. I have just had way too many occurrences where what they told me wasn't correct. So I check out whatever I can myself so I KNOW the results and I'm not relying on them.

Since the alternator is out already you might consider bringing it to an alternator/starter rebuild shop if you can find one near you and have them take a look at it. That is all they do so they know exactly what to look for in different manufacturers and so forth. And depending on what they find they might be able to get it fixed pretty quick. I had a Harley starter rebuilt at one near me in an hour and they told me exactly what went wrong and what they replaced. I was on the road the same day.

If you are going to install it again anyway, I might suggest using either a spare battery if you have one or maybe get one from the local junk yard. One near me has good, used and charged batteries for $15.00. I always keep a spare in my garage. There are all kinds of uses for testing things and it's great to have if you really need it in a hurry. Once you know you have a good battery installed with the alternator, 1) see if you still have the same issue. 2) check the alt output yourself with a multimeter while the engine is running and see if you get a steady 14+ volts.

If everything checks out and works you fixed it for $15. If the alt puts out way less than it should then you may have killed the battery running the engine on it too long AND need an alternator. If you still have the exact same issue and everything else checks out like it did at the store than maybe you have a ground or short somewhere. Another thought, charge the battery yourself at home, take the charger off and check it with your multimeter. If it starts dropping voltage right away it's probably bad. If not, bring it already charged someplace to have it load tested to see if it keeps the charge.

I hope you figure it all out. That is where I would start if it helps.

Good luck.

 

Thanks man. I googled an alternator rebuild shop and I have one pretty darn close. I gave them a call and they said that the bench tests at autozone are pretty darn accurate. I need this fixed by monday and they arent open tomorrow and I cant make it to them by closing today so I may see if I can buy an alternator from oreilly and swap it in anyways. Wonder what would happen if I put the battery from my commander in my cherokee to test it?

 

I don't see any reason it wouldn't work.

Hope you get it figured out soon!

 

Thanks, I hope so too. Its a PITA pulling the alternator.

 

The one I got from NAPA went bad within two weeks.. THAT sucked.. replacing alternator twice within those two weeks got old really fast

 

Im gonna get it bench tested a few more times at a different place..prolly oreillys. If it tests good im putting that bastard back in there and buying a battery. I may pull my starter too, maybe its shorting out?