Yesterday I noticed my car kept having problems with the radio and gauges flickering.

It would go bright, then dim. It died while I was stopped once, but other than that it was ok to drive.

This morning it would not even turn over, completely dead battery.

suggestions? I'm thinking alternator.

 

does it click when you turn the key? if it does it's probably the alternator .. dayum seems like the alternators on these cars aren't made too well

 

Negative, the thing is dead like I shot it.

 

negative, first check all ur grounds. thts prob it

the alt is easy to test with a multimeter tho. but im gona still say a bad connection somewhere

i kno for me personally, when i blew my alt it was gradual, not all at once. same with ur bat, its usually pretty gradual

 

Yeah, now that you say that, I think one of the cable was pretty loose last time I checked it.

Wow I feel stupid, I'll do that when I get home and see.

 

Check the connections around the alternator. Mine did the same thing but all in one day. Started a little hesitant, didn't think much of it. Got on the expressway doing around 80 and the battery went completely dead as you describe. Car died, coasted over to the side. Tow truck jumped it and drove straight to the dealer. There was a loose connection somewhere around the alternator causing it to not completely charge the battery. Good luck!

 

check to make sure the nut on the positive stud of the alternator is totally screwd on

 

I hope that's all it is, a loose cable. Thanks, I'll try it when I get home. I was late for work, so I was like FUCCK!!! and took the other car. Didn't have time to check anything.

 

Sorry for bringing up a dead thread, but, my roommate just got his car back from not driving it for a year, and I feel bad with all the problems he's been having...

A few things went wrong: starter, strut, exhaust leak. And now the latest thing is that the battery keeps dieing.

It is a two week old battery and it seems that every other day he needs a jump. Once the car is on, the volts read 14v. If the alternator was bad, wouldn't it read lower than 14v? I told him that it was probably a grounding issue, but where would it be? I saw the "check the alternator leads" and "volt/ohm meter" threads...but I really don't know where to look after that for a grounding issue...

Oh, he's got an 1996 Audi A4 Quattro. If that helps.