So I have a very confusing problem. In my 92 Chevy Astro the battery occasionally stops charging runs down and dies while I am driving and will not restart via jump but must be fully charged. This first happened a couple months and several thousand miles ago but has occurred 3 times in the last two weeks. Both the battery and the alternator have checked out good, and the alternator belt is tight as a drum. What could this possibly be?
My first guess would be to check all the connections and especially the ground wires. May be as simple as removing the ground wire, cleaning the chassis, and reconnecting it.
Mike
How many miles are on the van, how old is the battery, and how old is the alternator?
I ask, because my Toyota truck had a similar problem. Turns out the brushes wore out after 275,000 miles, and would disconnect and reconnect like you just described. I replaced the alternator, and all was well until the battery gave out 6 months later.
Intermittent problems are tough to diagnose. If it were my problem I’d replace the alternator and hope for the best.
@Naomayo replace that battery if it’s more than 5 years old, REGARDLESS of if it tests good or not
Speaking from experience here.
First of all, battery corrosion can creep up thru the battery cable, therefore given your current complaint I would recommend that u replace both full and complete negative and positive battery cables complete down to the starter & engine block. What u do not see or realize is that battery corrosion has infiltrated so far up thru the insulation of these battery cables that cannot be detected by the human eye. Been there, done that. Please make sure that u steel wire brush the neg battery cable to engine block and starter. This should hopefully fix your problem. Semper Fi.
I have read this post and I’m wondering how old the battery is on this 92’ vehicle. If you don’t know its age, replace the battery and both cables hooking to the battery. The cables are probably original from 92’. Batteries can go slowly go over time, and it sounds like your battery is old.