The other day I noticed my lights dimming. So I went to Autozone and had the girl there check my alternator and battery and when it put a load on it the car died. And it needed jumped to start again. I bought a brand new Alternator and it still was having the problems... So I went to a different autozone and the guy said my battery was no good. Well I swapped it out under warranty and it ran fine for a day or two. Then tonight I was driving and the lights got dimmer and dimmer and the car started stuttering and it died on me and left me sitting. It will jump fine but I think there may be an issue with power reaching from the alternator to the battery. I am 99% positive that the alternator is working but I think the issue may be with power getting to the battery. I need help. I want to see if there is a way I can run a wire from the alternator to the battery to see if it charges it or not but I don't want to hurt my car. How can I do this. It has a plug in front and a bolt on the side?
Also I def. think the only reason it ran fine for a day or two after changing out the alternator and battery is because the battery had a full charge and hadn't died until just tonight. I really do think it's a problem with the power getting to the battery to charge it. I am very unsure though how to go about connecting a wire from the alternator to the battery terminal without hurting something. There is like I said a plug in the front of the alternator and then a bolt on the side with 2 or 3 wires connected and then on the back side where the alternator mounts there is another 2 or 3 wires where it bolts down (assuming those are grounds). I am just worried that running a wire from the bolt on the side of the alt. to the battery post will hurt something or just not work.
Also I def. think the only reason it ran fine for a day or two after changing out the alternator and battery is because the battery had a full charge and hadn't died until just tonight. I really do think it's a problem with the power getting to the battery to charge it. I am very unsure though how to go about connecting a wire from the alternator to the battery terminal without hurting something. There is like I said a plug in the front of the alternator and then a bolt on the side with 2 or 3 wires connected and then on the back side where the alternator mounts there is another 2 or 3 wires where it bolts down (assuming those are grounds). I am just worried that running a wire from the bolt on the side of the alt. to the battery post will hurt something or just not work.