I am having power issues with my 2006 HHR. My car kept dying so I replaced the battery but it kept dying. Now I have replaced the alternator twice. The alternator is sending 13 amps back to the battery and the battery is charging. But my battery keeps going dead. Any Ideas?

 

Check for a light or other power pulling item staying on all the time.

I once had a Oldsmobile that did that same thing. Installed a new battery and it went dead.

AS long as I drove it every day it was OK. If it sat for one day battery would be dead. If I unhooked the positive cable the problem went away.

Finally, one night I saw a courtesy light on when it should have been off. I pulled the bulb and never had a problem again . Come to find out I had installed a new radio and pushed the light up out of the way. It made a ground and stayed on all the time and you couldn't see it was on.

One way to check is to unhook the positive cable when sitting. It problem goes away it is a short or something using power all the time.

Boydie Back in the Saddle.................

 

Make sure the Negative cable is good. It might look good, but could be corroded inside. FYI

 

13 volts you mean?

 

And if it is volts, then 13 volts isn't enough.

 

It is 13 Amps, NOT volts. Dash gage (if you have one) reads in amperes and reads between 10-14 amps for most cars.

System is 12 volt DC. Should be no more no less.

Boydie

 

If the alternater is chargeing should be about 14 plus volts at idle.

 

if your car is running and not over 12 volts your alternator is trash...i haven't seen an amp meter in a car for along time (from the factory) my last pickup Ford F250 (and most fords) have a volt meter that goes from 8v to 18v

 

where are you measuring and what are you using to measure?

 

correct