Buying aftermarket battery

[Betrivent]

But.. if your engine is running it shouldn't stall like that. I actually think it's your alternator. Do a test, start the car with a jump, then disconnect a lead off the battery. If the car dies, it's your alternator gone. If it doesn't, it's your battery.

[edmscan]

Replaced the battery today .. and its all working fine. The battery was totally shot .. the dealership tested it and it was dead. Like really dead.

So .. 121$ later and I am good to go. The battery was the original battery in the car .. so it was 6 years old which around here is amazing life for a battery.

So .. I just hope that the new one lasts that long.

[edmscan]

Originally Posted by Betrivent

But.. if your engine is running it shouldn't stall like that. I actually think it's your alternator. Do a test, start the car with a jump, then disconnect a lead off the battery. If the car dies, it's your alternator gone. If it doesn't, it's your battery.

I will actually go tomorrow to a local business that specializes in batteries and they will test your battery / charging system for free. So .. I will see what they say.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by Betrivent

But.. if your engine is running it shouldn't stall like that. I actually think it's your alternator. Do a test, start the car with a jump, then disconnect a lead off the battery. If the car dies, it's your alternator gone. If it doesn't, it's your battery.

I would have agreed with you 100% on this before my experience with my Yaris (now I would be about 98% in agreement ). I kept my OEM battery until its dying day, literally (and at 138,000+ miles). I wouldn't have made it even another mile. I thought I was going to have to push the car into the bay at Sears (in Texas). 21,000 miles later I had the same symptoms and it tested out to be the alternator (which I assumed it would be). I was in Minnesota, and (coincidentally) Sears had the best available deal.

[edmscan]

Originally Posted by nookandcrannycar

I would have agreed with you 100% on this before my experience with my Yaris (now I would be about 98% in agreement ). I kept my OEM battery until its dying day, literally (and at 138,000+ miles). I wouldn't have made it even another mile. I thought I was going to have to push the car into the bay at Sears (in Texas). 21,000 miles later I had the same symptoms and it tested out to be the alternator (which I assumed it would be). I was in Minnesota, and (coincidentally) Sears had the best available deal.

So are you saying that my alternator is bad ... and it wasn't the battery ? That would really suck .. as well I just got a new battery. The thing is that I drove my car on Saturday (and it was fine, no problems) and on Monday it was dead. I am going to get my alternator (ie charging system) checked later today .. and I will post the results.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by edmscan

So are you saying that my alternator is bad ... and it wasn't the battery ? That would really suck .. as well I just got a new battery. The thing is that I drove my car on Saturday (and it was fine, no problems) and on Monday it was dead. I am going to get my alternator (ie charging system) checked later today .. and I will post the results.

No, I meant that before my experience with my Yaris I would have 100% agreed with Betrivent that your issue is a bad alternator, but that my first experience of the 'alternator like' symptoms ended up being the battery rather than alternator. So, I learned that the symptoms CAN apply to either a battery problem or an alternator problem. Whenever I'd had such symptoms on previous cars, the problem had always been the alternator. When I had the symptoms for the second time on my Yaris (21,000 miles later), the problem was the alternator.