2006 Monte Carlo - In Feb. had the starter replaced. Now this week the battery died. When I got in the car to start it the entire electrical system had shut down. Car even stuck in lock. Repair shop guy put a new battery in and it seems to be running fine. I am female and have to take my car in for repairs. I'm wondering if my alternator is going bad. The car has 115,000 miles.

 

Good Morning Marshagup, you did not mention the age of the battery so I am guessing with 115,000 miles on the car the battery most likely had a number of years in service. if the battery was original to the car, it most likely failed due to age. I hope you have a relationship with the people that own the garage you take the car to. that means you feel you can trust them to do what is in your best interest. hopefully they have the equipment to test the alternator for you and give you some piece of mind. hope this helps

 

Thank you. This is actually the third battery in this car and it was only a year old. The garage tested the alternator and told me "the alternator is charging the battery". Yesterday I took the car by Autozone and they tested the alternator and he told me the alternator was good. I stood there and watched him test it. I am concerned that something is causing the battery to drain but I did not leave anything on. Headlights are automatic and the car is programmed where the interior lights go out after about a minute. I am thinking of taking the car somewhere that can run a diagnostic on it to determine any issues. My car does sit out and we had a much colder winter than usual here in TN this year. Could the bad starter than I had replaced drain the battery? Also, there is clicking noise under the glove compartment that has to do with the recirculating of air. Could that drain a battery?

 

Winters are always tough on batterys especially when they sit out in the elements..

Have your local repair shop check/clean your body grounds... this may solve the battery drain issue.

The "clicking noise" you here is more than likely the blend door actuator.

It controls where the air goes when you run the heat and or AC...
(floor, vents, dash)

as long as it still is able to change to each of these positions.. then I would just deal with the "clicking"... until it fails.. But its also an easy fix..

If you trust your local repair shop to do this for you inexpensively... and the "clicking" is a nuisance... Then I would go ahead and have it replaced..

Hope this helps.
Thanks for joining the MCF Family.

 

Sorry off topic but what part of Tennessee are you in? Any car clubs up there?

 

Hi Marshagup, well I suspect there is something draining the battery and there are several ways to see what is doing this. I would go to my repair shop and ask them to check to see if there is a constant draw on the battery. stuck relays a light can stay on, lots of small issues cause a problem but go undetected. hope this helps

chipscap

 

also leaving cell phone chargers, and gps chargers plugged in will cause a drain on the battery especially if it gets really cold, just food for thought

 

Good Morning, you have some great advice so far and I checked youtube for something that might clarify what might be going on with your car. check this out. you can copy the link and see how to check to see if there is a draw on your battery. I am not suggesting you check as you most likely do not have the tools but this shows you how the shop will do the test. Once it is determined there is a draw on the battery, the real work of finding the problem starts. hope this helps!!
https://video.search.yahoo.com/video...&hsimp=yhs-004

 

I was having a problem last week. When I was starting, it would turn over, but took a long time to start.
I figured battery or alternator.
But when it quit, wouldn't turn over, boosting didn't help, just a burning coil smell.
It was the starter, fried.
I suspect the high output battery (Optima RedTop) was hard on the stater during all the extreme cold starts this winter.

I'm amazed the original alternater is still good, 9 years old, 250,000 km's
It's a Denso, so made in Japan . Every other Chevy I had never went 4 years without replacing the Alt.

My car used to drain the battery if left sit for more than a week.