jump car to start every 3-4 days.

Hi all,
I have some problem to start my car these days, and I really want to
pinpoint what the problem. So if you have some ideas, just left me
know, thanks a lot !

The car is a Volvo 850 wagon with 90K on it.
the car runs smoothly once it is started. But for the past 3 weeks, I
had quite a few times to have the car jump to start. Once it is
started, everything runs smoothly.

At first, it happened almost ever day, if I left car there for 4 hours,
I had to have it jumped. So I thought the battery was dead, and had it
replaced.
But somehow, it does not solve the problem completely. For every 3-4
day driving, I had to have it jumped once.

So I did some test on the battery.
If I turn on the engine, and have it running for 1-2 minutes, the
voltage number that I reads from the this battery is 13.6.
If I turned on all the head-lights, A/C, and radio, with the running
engine, the voltage reads as 13.4.
Right after the engine was turn off, the voltage was 12.3, and the
morning that I had problem to start the car, the voltage reads as: 4.

I notice on my dashboard there is bulb no longer works, the one for
the "clock" area. Other than that, all other bulbs works fine.

Another thing I want to ask is how to check the output from the
alternator. For this volvo, the alternator is under some other parts.
All I can see is a thin wire, and a group of wires joint together.

Btw, this car did some fender work about 5 weeks ago and I started to
have this battery problem 7 days after the car was delivered to me.


Thanks a lot for any tips !



CJ

 

Sounds like a problem with the alternator or charging system. You
should be seeing more than 13.6V with the engine running or the battery
won't be getting charged.

Can't help you there, haven't been under the hood of an 850.

Could be related; was the fender work on the same side the alternator
is mounted on? A wire might have gotten damaged.

Wouldn't hurt to disconnect the battery and clean the cables and terminals.

Also, hook up a battery charger and see if it requires several hours to
fully charge the battery; if so, you definantly have a problem with the
alternator or charging system.


Gary

 

Clean and repair the ground strip under the battery tray. Make sure all
the ground wires that go there are clean and tight.

Bob