Hi, I am looking for some advice from some of the experts out there. I am experiencing a weird battery problem on my 1993 STS. Basically about once every 2 weeks I was getting a "Battery No Charge". The first time I cleaned the terminals and cables and all seemed good for a week or two. It then happened again, I re-cleaned the cables and tightened the side posts with a much better wrench (they were a bit loose) and again all seemed good. She was charging at 13.7 -> 14.4 for a good week or two. I though for sure this would fix it. Well of course last night it happened again. I just checked the car today and without doing a thing she is back to charging fine.

Ideas?

A couple of side notes: The car always starts good, no hesitation, no clicking.
With all accessories on the car is fine, lights are bright, etc.

Could this be more of a heat thing, as in if I drive it for a bit. I am going to have the battery tested. I have note replaced the cables but they could be rather old.

Thanks

Rob

If corrosion keeps redeveloping that quickly its likely the battery is leaking. That may also likely be a current draw draining the battery down, but I'd test the charging system. That may help identify if there is a current draw or not.

Test the battery, alternator, starter, etc... If all checks out inspect the battery for age, if its over 5 years old replace it regardless.

I'm definitely not a mechanic and I don't know a whole lot about cars but I'm betting it's the alternator. I've had similar things happen like you describe...it's always turned out to be ther alternator. Most recently, I had a refurbished AC Delco one put on my car last year but my "no charge" light always lit up when the car was on...the car never showed any signs that the alternator was goung bad until Monday night it just randomly started showing "the signs" and a minute later it went completely dead. The mechanic was not surprised that the alternator went out (even though last year he seemed to think a refurbished Delco was the best option and that it would last a long time...). Anyways, you might want to have the alternator tested. I think Auto Zone or Auto Parts(?) will do it free of charge.

Another thing you could check would be your serpentine belt, to make sure that it hasn't stretched beyond its design range. There's a cast arrow and a range indicator on the belt tensioner mechanism that will tell you if it's good or bad.

The belt of course drives your alternator.

Just a thought

If your battery has side terminals (A POX ON THEE, GM!!!) check to make sure they aren't loose or broken away - I had the negative terminal just break clean off my battery about a year ago - it jiggled around a bit before it did, so every now and then, the entire car would just loose all electrical...then I'd hit a bump, and it would come back on. And new cables probably wouldn't hurt.

Make sure you keep the posts clean - a spray of WD40 or WallyWax on them will help quite a bit.

I had this message for 6 months, everything 'tested' fine, but finally changed the alternator, no more battery woes, (but plenty of other stuff)...My vote, alternator.

kp ;(

Thanks, I'll let you know