92 Lumina Battery Dies

Hi:

Battery is new but goes dead and does not charge itself. Car starts good with a boost.

Does anyone know what voltage a 92 Lumina should charge at? The car is presently at 14.6vdc while running.

Can you tell if the alternator diodes are gone by checking DC volts?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

well lets see. Sounds kinda like a dead cell in the battery. Did you accidentally leave the lights on or a accessory and it totally drain the battery? That could cause a dead cell. If the alternator is putting out 14.6 thats pretty well perfect. Try this. Get the car started and disconnect the negative terminal from the battery, be sure to do this with all accessorys off. If it keeps running fine and along with you saying its putting out 14.6 volts, that will pretty well isolate it to the battery, and connections. A new battery doesn't mean its a good battery. Put a charger on it overnight. Check its voltage in the morning by itself, if its not reading at least 12 to 12.5 theres something wrong with it. And it will need replacing. Also check the connections, if there is alot of corrosion pour a coca cola on the battery and connectors then scrub with a wire brush and clean it off, and try it again. I had that happen on a 81 mustang convertible. Battery was fine, and most of the time it would start the car, but every now and then it would be dead, it was because the terminals were so corroded the alt. couldn't recharge it. That was when I was 16 and not very well in the know. But try the above and your problems should be over.

Thanks for the reply.

The battery has not gone dead since all seems good. Bat voltage is at 12.7v when the car is off. Windshield wipers were in a block of ice. Maybe this had something to do with the drained battery.

12.7 sounds fine for when the vehicle isn't running. And yea, I have had wipers get frozen to the windshield and not move but keep pulling until they are released, I usually have to get out with the scraper and free them up since it could potentially burn the wiper motor up.

My battery problem was due to a short with power locks. I pulled the relays and leave it unlocked.

Could very well be your alternator. Your car can fully run for about an hour with no help from the alternator.