charging battery issues on my 2001 buick century?

J

James H

New member
all summer long my car is fine but once it gets cold i have charging issues. when its 30 degrees or colder out i will start my car and let it warm up. when getting in the car i roll the window down a little and the window moves very slow. upon driving for 10 minutes the battery light comes on. ten to fifteen minutes later i start losing power. all the idiot lights come on and the car dies on the side of the road. sometimes i can let it sit for 10 minutes and it will start right back up with no help. when this happens, it seems like my battery is at max strength IE: windows go up and down as normal, no idiot lights at all, even the ones that seem to always be on, headlights are bright. this happened last winter and now its doing it this winter. this issue might end up costing me my job which in todays economy that cant happen, please help.
 
Sounds like your car has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome!!

Sounds like some sensor or valve is malfunctioning. Since your car is a 2001, you should be able to have a garage/mechanic hook it up to the computer and should get a readout on the charging or electrical system.
Normally, I'd say it's a short, because of losing power. But a short wouldn't let the batty start up again as if nothing ever happened.

This isn't a very detailed answer, but it's best I can offer. All my charging experience is on much older cars. Modern engines have all kinds of switches and sensors which can cause a bunch of different problems, other than merely a bad battery or cable connection.
 
It sounds like you have a strong battery but your alternator is going out. Its easy to check go to the nearest auto zone or oriellys and have them run the alternator on their machine and test it out. Most of the time when you driving your car and your alternator isn't working then the battery is supplying all the power for all the cars functions draining it fast. When you shut the car off for after a while the battery regains some charge letting you run the windows...etc.... This will eventually wear out your battery so you need to get it checked out fast.
 
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