I drive the car far enough for it to charge the battery. I drive 7-18 miles to then another 7-18 miles back home.
Also, I do mostly highway driving.
After I drove 7 miles to my cozy destination and spent about 2 hours inside of the car, the message came on the car when I tried to start it “ CHARGING SYSTEM MALFUNCTION”
Also, I also forgot to report this concerning issue. Prior to the message coming on, I noticed on the highway my power brake was kinda losing power. I don’t know if it’s in my head or not but the brake felt hard and the car wasn’t stopping like it should.
The guys who are working at Autozone are NOT mechanics.
Taking automotive advice from the guys at Autozone, or Advance Auto, or O’Reilly, or Napa would be like taking medical advice from the cashier at CVS, or Walgreens, or your local pharmacy.
Would you trust the cashier at your local chain-run pharmacy to provide expert medical advice? I really hope that your answer is… NO.
If you do that several times a week, should be plenty to keep the battery charged.
It’s hard to make the call if that’s an actual charging system problem or something else. For example, if a car has a vacuum leak, the diagnostic error code might be for the O2 sensor, or it might be for the MAF sensor. Same problem, different error codes. And neither are the cause of the actual problem. The message displayed depends how the computer programmers decided to write the software.
That is of course up to you. You are responsible for deciding how you spend your money after all. Do you have & know how to use a shop volt meter? If I had that problem I’d do this driveway-diyer test:
Before the first start of the day (car sitting unused overnight) the battery should measure about 12.6 volts. Then immediately after starting the engine, 13.5-15.5 volts. If you aren’t able to do that safely yourself, suggest to schedule a visit w/your dealership.
Some years ago the cashier at my local chain store didn’t actually give me advice, but told me the compete intimate details of her use of the product, a contraceptive. Seriously, not making this up … lol … to her credit, I believe she was just trying to be helpful.
The charging system cannot operate if the engine is not running, that message is expected if the battery voltage is low and the engine is not running.
Why was the battery too weak to start the engine? When you “turn on your car”, do you start the engine or just have the ignition on to listen to the radio?
You are looking at alternator speed, the alternator rotates 4 times the speed of the engine. If an engine idling at 600 rpms, the alternator is spinning more than 200 rpms and can typically put out 70 to 80% of rated power.
Thermal underwear could be the solution to your question. Also you might check that the battery and alternator cable connections are sound at both ends. The dealer and Auto Zone should have an instrument that will measure the alternator current at idling to see if it is normal.
It might be that clerk was just proud or else wanted a date.
At any rate if you got the message that there is an electrical malfunction, you have an electrical malfunction. Either alternator, battery, regulator, or driving pattern. If you insist on continuing to drive this way, at least put a booster pack in the car so you can do your own jump start. Just speaking from experience.
