General car question

Bustaballs

Bustaballs

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Bustaballs
I finally got my hands on my own vehicle. First, I just want to say that I don't know dick about vehicles or how they operate. I just barely know enough to have a license to drive. I paid $250 for a 1988 chevy cavalier. If it sits in the cold for more than a couple of days, it needs a jump start. Other than that, everything seems to work fine. The fellow who sold it to me said it was probably a problem with the alternator. I was attempting to look up prices online but I'm not sure if all parts are just model specific or what. I don't have the slightest clue on where to begin addressing this issue. If I just look up the part for the car, it it guaranteed to be compatible? How much would a mechanic generally charge for installation?
 
Ok first of all any problem with the electrical system and you should take it to a checkers or auto zone or w/e and ask them to check your system. They will do this for free in the hopes that you will buy said part from them. If it is a problem with the alternator it really depends on the car how much of a pain in the ass it is to change... A lot of cars it is on top and all u gotta do is pop the tensioner and your 2 bolts and 10 minutes from done...

Other cars like my 300zx require alot more work including removing the mainfold and other things that may be mounted over the top of it.

What you need to do is to take a look at your engine and look for a cylinderical part that looks like it has a giant coal of brass wires inside of it and a pully on the front this is your alternator.

alternator2.jpg


If it looks easily accessible then you are probably home free and can do it yourself. If it looks like a pain in the ass.. deal with it or be prepared to have someone do it for you.

chevrolet-cavalier-20.jpg


judgeing by this picture i found of a cavalier it appears that your alternator is in a very accessible place. But before you replace anything.. please get it tested.
 
Is it just from sitting in the cold that it needs a jumpstart?
does it need a boost after the engine is warmed up?

Chances are if it starts when you have the engine warm and refuses to start without a boost in the cold, the battery is very weak. Do you have any idea how old the battery is?

Damn you deja, beat me to it lol
 
The person who sold it to me said it was just from being too cold. He said during warm temperatures, it works fine. I believe he said the battery was fairly new.
 
from past experience. i new battery can be bad right from the start. id get the battery and stuff checked. but it does sound like a battery problem.
 
Yeah. I think I'll take it by a shop and have both the battery and alternator checked out.

Thanks.
 
Yeah, definitely run it up to an AutoZone or your local equivalent and ask for a system diagnostic and it'll tell you exactly what the problem is. If they pressure you into buying something, just tell them it will cost more than you originally expected and you'll have to come back later in the week. Then just come tell us what the problem is and I'm sure someone here can tell you what you should REALLY do.
 
Okay. I went to get things checked out today. The alternator is fine. A guy at one place tested the battery and said it was good but needed a charge. So, I had him charge it. I went to go get an oil change and have my other fluids checked immediately after I left from getting my battery charged. The fellow there said the battery needed a charge. I told him what happened and he said the battery wasn't outputting as much power as it should be and a cell is probably not functioning.
 
Glad it's not your alternator, that is a heavily priced fix, especially for a car you only paid a few hundred dollars for. To be honest, had you needed a new one and needed a mechanic to put it in, you'd have probably paid -around- double for what you paid for the whole car and at the very least just as much as you paid for it.

I don't know much about cars myself except for what I've had run-ins with personally. I've had the problem you're havin' with your battery before. At he time I had a 95 Ford F-150 and durin' the summer time I bought a cheap battery because I was almost at the point of bein' able to buy a better vehicle. When Winter rolled around I had to constantly jump it off or roll it off, lucky me it was a manual so I could do this. The problem was the battery didn't have enough cold crankin' amps to work properly under the cold weather where I lived. Since it was also cheap, it had a poor cell as well. However, the cell would have caused problems in the Summer as well if that was the case, or so I'd like to think. I eventually bought a decent battery for around $80 with everything a normal battery would have on/in it and I never had the problem with it again.

I'm not sayin' you should get a new battery, just telling you how it was for me. When a vehicle gets to that age it could be a number of things. That shouldn't discourage you from fixin' it up though. Those Cavs are good little cars and can with stand a test of time. My Grandmother bought 1991 model in 1993 and still drives it every day.
 
you stated before that you believed the battery was fairly new.. if this is true i would look in the glove box to see if you can find any paperwork from when it was purchased. Alot of times batteries have full replacement warranties if they are under a certian age and prorated warranties for several years after that. You could get out of this one very cheaply if you can find out where the battery was purchased and if you have a warranty or not.

Another problem you might run into though is if the warranty is valid with a transfer of ownership...
 
Eh a good battery is $60-80 bucks, I'd just snag a new one. The output being weak can be fairly common. A lot of the times too, someone saying the battery is "new" during a sale means "I bought it in the last 3-6 years". Just a quick replacement, will take you literally about 5 minutes, and you may learn something about what's under the hood. Also, Deja nice post about the alternator. She'll purr like she's new! Unless something else is wrong naturally, but then you can confer with the rest of us.
 
I'm going to jump in on this and ask something. Through no fault of my own, my Rearview mirror has fallen off my windshield. Is there any kind of special glue I need to buy to stick it back on, or will epoxy work?
 
All you dudes need to fix my new car :(
 
Skaw said:
I'm going to jump in on this and ask something. Through no fault of my own, my Rearview mirror has fallen off my windshield. Is there any kind of special glue I need to buy to stick it back on, or will epoxy work?
Click to expand...

Livin' in Maryland you might be okay with epoxy. Hell, durin' the winter time any place is fine for epoxy. The only problem with epoxy is that in hot environments it doesn't set very well. I remember my Dad had a set of golf clubs, epoxy is what you use to keep the heads attached to the shafts, and he started gettin' lazy and just leavin' them in his vehicle instead of puttin' them in the house every night. Well, out of the blue one day we started up a round and his driver head flew off. He though it was just a freak accident but when he tried an iron out its head flew off too. We took out all of his clubs and every head, except for the putter, obviously, came off his clubs from settin' in the heat, we live in TX.

There is an adhesive you can buy at most auto stores, like Auto Zone, though specifically for rear view mirrors. Shouldn't be to pricey.
 
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