Hello all!

Found this forum on the internet while searching for some answers to a weird problem, hopefully someone can offer some advice.

My son'* '01 Cavalier Z24 recently had the alternator replaced (about 3 weeks ago).

A couple days ago he was driving it and the battery light came on, followed by the other dash lights and the engine started running rough. He got back to his apartment and when I tried starting it I would hear only a clicking sound.

Thinking they just put a bad alternator on I hooked some jumper cables up to the car and charged it for maybe 5-10 minutes at which point the car started. I disconnected the cables, shut off the car and again it started and ran fine for about 2-3 minutes before the battery light came on, followed by the other dashboard lights. I pulled the battery out, brought it home and put it on my battery charger so it would be fully charged.

The next day, however, after reinstalling the battery I can get none of the electrical system to respond. No dome lights, no clock on the radio, turning the key doesn't turn on any of the dash lights and no power locks. It'* as if the battery isn't hooked up, however I did confirm both screws were securely tightened on the battery.

The research online I've done leads me to believe the BCM may be the culprit, however any advice on either further testing I could do or any other possibilities would be great appreciated.

Thanks!

~Eric

When you discovered that NOTHING turned on, did you verify voltage at the battery with a meter? I'm suspecting a bad battery.

Thank you for the reply!

I didn't test the battery while the cables were connected, but I did pull the battery out and take it to a local farm & fleet close by to have the battery checked, and it did pass according to their tester.

Also, I have a voltmeter that I checked the battery with and it'* putting out 12.99V. The ends of the cables that connect to the battery terminals appear ok, no excessive corrosion, basically no different than they were yesterday when the vehicle would get power from the battery. The only thing that happened between yesterday and today was I disconnected the battery and let it sit overnight.

If it'* worthwhile to put the tester on the battery with it installed I can do that tomorrow after work. It'* really a strange issue for sure.

Again, thanks for your input and let me know if there'* anything else I should look at or try.

~Eric

You might want to have the battery tested at Walmart/autozone. I'm with Mike about it being a bad battery.

If anything else, try using another know good battery for a day or so and see what happens.

If you were able to start the car, and it died 2 or 3 minutes later, I would suspect the new alternator is defective. Boost it again, start the car, and check voltage at the 2 battery terminals. It should run around 14 volts. If not, pull the alternator and have it tested.

https://www.gmforum.com/general-gm-c...ppened-303134/

I had a battery do the same thing. It was a dual terminal, tested fine on the top terminals, but not the side.

The issue is resolved, thank you all for the advice. The issue was definitely the rebuilt alternator, it had zero output.

As far as the battery goes, it was/is just fine. I don't know if something was wet or I just was messing up the connections but yesterday I connected it back and it started right up. The new alternator is on and all is good.

Thank you everyone for the advice, it was genuinely appreciated!

I'm glad it worked out for you. Usually, if you can get a car started it will keep running even if the battery will not hold a charge. When a car stalls out (like yours) due to insufficient electrical supply, it means the alternator has failed.

i bet the alternator was from autozone!!ha