Okay, a while back I posted about a wandering tach needle (obvious difference between what my tach reads and the engine revs---either too high or too low).
Right after that happened, I started having charging problems. Charge the battery up with my charger, and it still won't crank. I jump it with my battery jumper box, and it fires right up and runs great.
Poking around under the hood the other day, I found that the Ground wire on the alternator had loosened up quite a bit---not disconnected, but really loose.
I tightened it up, put the charger back on overnight. Next day, it fired once, but would not crank the next time I tried to start it.
I jumped it last night and took it for a 20 minute drive on the freeway in 4th to charge up the battery. Pulled into the garage, shut it off, then tried to start it. Click... Click... Click...
Works fine if I jump it, but when I try to rely on the battery alone, it cannot crank.
I'm going to check the terminal connections on the battery (tucked up behind the rear tire..).
How do I test the battery to determine if I have a bad cell? Would a battery fail within a couple of months of purchase if it had a bad cell? Still under warranty.
Also, that loose ground wire on the alternator: Any possibility the voltage regulator was harmed due to the floating ground? What about the alternator?
DD