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Alternator or...

968 views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  nick5446 
#1 ·
Hey guys,

I think I've got a charging issue with my '87 900 Turbo; the battery's been dying pretty regularly and it's taken a lot of jump starts over the past week. Knowing that the battery is only about 6 months old, I'm ready to swap the alternator and call it a day, however, knowing that it's a Saab, I thought I should ask the pros.

Here are the recent symptoms: I let the battery charge overnight and it started right up. Drove it to work, and it started up again about 10 hours later without a problem. While it was running I put a multimeter on the leads and got 14V, so all seemed promising. It started up the next morning (a little slow to turn over) and a few hours later it needed a jump.

Like I said, I'm ready, willing and able to pull the alternator, I just to want to be too hasty in my diagnosis. Any help is greatly appreciated. Also, is all that jump-starting in a short period of time bad for a battery?
 
#3 ·
I guess the first thing I would do is repeat the same, but with one change. Remove the negative batter cable between starts just to be sure that the battery itself is holding a charge.

If you were getting 14 volts while running, I'd think that the alternator is fine. I remember someone once had the problem of the dome lights being on or off due to driver error. The switch on the center console would get bumped to "on" and then back to "off" causing the battery to appear to drain in a not so obvious pattern.
 
#7 ·
I once bought a 900s for $300 in "non-running condition". The owner stated that they thought the battery was bad and replaced it, but the problems persisted. She then just went out and bought a new car instead. I just needed a parts car, so I just bought it regardless. The first thing I did after buying it was check the battery with a multimeter. I discovered that with the battery cables disconnected, there was a short in the battery itself. I replaced the battery, started the car right up and then drove it home! :D
 
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