battery being drained

Asked by Tony Aug 26, 2016 at 12:04 PM about the 1996 Saturn S-Series 4 Dr SL Sedan

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

OK at my wits! I have a 1996 Saturn s series 1.9
liter. The car runs great for about 30 mins then
dues completely no power all lights off. My first
issue was getting car to start. No crank no start.
So bought a new battery engine turned over. Ran a
little rough but it was running. Car sat for couple
weeks. Went to start car wouldn't crank. Battery
was good. So I replaced starter. Fired right up
drove the car for about 30 mins started loosing
power had gas pedal all the way to the floor and
the car was barely moving and eventually died.
Tried jumping car no luck. So replaced neutral
safety switch. Car still didn't turn over. Jumped
again it fired right up but as soon as I removed
jumper cables it stalled. So replaced alternator
again same result jumped car car started let run
for 10 mins with jumper cables attached as soon
as cablesvare removed car dies. So take battery to
have tested its completely drained had them
charge battery. Put back in car fired right purring
like a kitten. Drive the car for about 30 mins same
thing car starts to lose power lights start dimming
and the car dies completely out of power. The car
has 75,000 on it. I'm not sure where to go from
here. Any suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.

159,085

Bob answered 8 years ago

Have the alternator tested while on the vehicle running. You may have got a bad alternator or a wiring or fuse issue in the alernator circuit. If you have access to a DC volt meter you can measure the voltage at the battery with the engine running and it should be somewhere roughly between 13 and 15 volts. If lower than 13 volts it is not charging correctly.

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