My car battery warning light remains lit a majority of the time. I have taken the car to the dealership to be checked. They checked the starter, charging system, and battery.
They can’t seem to find the problem. It has not started a few times(inconvenient).
I have my AAA telephone number memorized. Can anyone help?
Several things, your dealer should have looked at:
If battery cables are free of corrosion at BOTH ends.
A load test on your battery. A battery that has gone dead has reduced capacity.
Measured the output from your alternator.
With a fully charged battery, checked for parasitic draw.
Since your car is long out of warranty you might want to check with an independent facility, check mechanics files at the top of the page, recommendations from friend, and yelp reviews.
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@Purebred covered most of the things.
One other thing to have checked, is that the belt tensioner is working properly.
The tensioner is spring loaded and keeps the correct force on the serpentine belt to keep it tight.
If the tensioner is weak it will allow the belt to slip, thus the alternator is not spinning fast enough to keep up with the demand.
Yosemite
All the above, plus if the battery is over 4 or 5 years old, replace it. If less, have the store that sold it to you test it. It can be done with the battery in the car.
Good advice above. On most cars that warning light means the alternator isn’t producing enough electrical power output to properly charge the battery, at a time if it was working correctly it should be doing so. Loose alternator belt, faulty alternator, faulty battery, bad ground connection, something like that. The way I’d start if presented with that problem is the basic charging system test that any diy’er can do with a dvm. The battery should measure about 12.6 volts before the first start of the day. Immediately after starting the engine , 13.5-15.5 volts. What does your mechanic get?
Thank you all! I much appreciate the information. I am going to copy the advice, and the next time my car goes dead I’ll have it with me. 9 toes