Since Tuesday or Wednesday the windows of my '94 Cherokee have increasingly slowed going up or down, and today the tach and speedometer each went to "0" more and more then stopped working (while driving). When I parked it in front of my apartment this afternoon, I waited a long time for the windows to roll up then shut it off. I then immediately tried to restart it but got the clicking sound of a dead battery.

The battery is dated July '07, is filled, the terminals are clean, the connections tight, and the ground and power wires are good (which I replaced six months ago). A few days ago I tried jumping a Compass but couldn't get it started. My battery also let off a big spark once the cables were connected. I just don't know if I had the window issue before or after I tried the jump, or even if the jump could've created a problem. So what should I do or look for to solve this problem quickly? Thanks for any help!

 

sounds like it might be your alternator i would take your battery and alternator to the parts store and have them test it most of them will do it for free it only takes a couple of minutes

 

Yup sounds like the alt. she was running solely off the battery and just killed it in the long run. As far as the battery goes, should be able to charge it back up sinse it fairly new.

 

Yep, sounds like the alternator to me too. Trying to jump that copmass could have been the straw that broke the cammels back.

 

I'm not implying anything here but once my sister gave someone a jump and they hooked the cables up backwards. It ended up costing her a battery, an alternator, and a computer in her car. When helping people I always hook the cables up myself. I don't trust my vehicle to someone else's judgement.

 

Thanks for the input. I agree with your assessments. I tried charging it for an hour this morning and can't get it to run for longer than a few minutes. Plus the engine dies when I disconnect the neg terminal. So what might've caused the alternator to die? And is there any kind of preventative maintenance I can do while I'm replacing it? The engine's been driven for 264k + miles and I don't have any big power draws.

Damn. I checked the connections to make sure but we each connected our own batteries. Good advice.

 

Alternators wear out die over time, just normal wear and tear. It's a common replacement part, albeit an expensive one, but they usually last a long time.

 

Sounds like your alternater is toast. Other thing when using jumper cables be aware a spark can make a battery explode. after seeing what a battery did to my buddy I have more respect for batterys now.

 

I just replaced the alternator, now it runs normal again. Thanks for the help!

 

glad to hear it!

 

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Right on