Problems with a 1994 Mercury Topaz Alternator Maybe?

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Colton

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Alright, so I was driving my topaz when one day *kapoot*, It won't start after school. So the car wouldn't turn over, it clicked, the battery was dead. So we jump it, get it home, and charge it. It starts, we checked the alternator and the alt. is putting out 15volts, so that's not bad. But where is the power from my battery going (it's happened 3 times). The topaz is the 4-Door; 4-Cylinder versions and I want to get it fixed, my Dad wants me to try driving it without the stereo on, since I do blare my music (like I'm the only one) and my drives are short but that ruins the point of me driving places honostly. If that is the case I will crush the car and make some cash but I would rather not have to get a new vehicle. HELP!!!!!!!!!! please
There's enough amperage and the battery is new
The terminals are cleaned and the output was 15.0 volts on average (14.8 was the low 15.3 was the high)
 
Take it to Auto Zone and have them test the alternator and battery, they do this for free. You may find that you are putting out enough volts but not enough amps.
 
First thing, get a battery brush at store and remove battery terminals and clean terminals and posts till they shine. If still a problem test battery, with key off should be 13.5 volts. You have a volt meter on dash that will give a fairly good reading. If less than 13 volts the battery is not charged. Alt. output is fine, 14.5 is required voltage. Don't listen to all this technical stuff from the "experts" do the simple stuff.
 
Try a battery out of another car for a day. the cells in a battery can come loose and cause all kinds of problems, but ck out ok on a tester. and if you have a lot of electrical components, amp and such you may have to go to a larger amperage battery, all alternators put out 13.5 to 14.5 volts but low amps, so while driving the amp is taking more amps than the battery needs to charge, and make sure all your connections to the battery and solonoid are good. An ambulance is a good example, we had a 180 amp battery because of the radios and electrical equipment on board.
 
here's what you do. there is a ground wire coming from the radiator support near the battery. there will be 3 or 4 wires coming off of it. then there is a grey plug in. inspect this plug in...from atop it won't look bad but turn it over and if it looks melted then this is your problem. This is a typical problem on that model of car. Simply cut the wires and splice them together if the plug is melted. If this is not the problem then you need to look for a short in the system. One thing to do is take a test light and disconnect the battery. Hook the test light in series with the battery and the negative cable. if the test light comes on then you have something drawing the battery down. start pulling fuses until the light goes out. obviously what ever fuse you pull to get it to go out is where the problem is.

Good luck
 
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