electrical problems
 

ok so I got in my car to start it and I turned the key and nothing, all the accessaries were on and my starter clicked like it was dead so I was like ok the starter is dead so I pop started it and drove to my friends house. Then when I turned on to pop start it and everything pretty much dead my stereo wouldnt even turn on cause the batt was dead. so is the alternater dead or what?

Maybe, or maybe something was left on or didn't shut off. When was the last time you drove the car?

After you get the car started, I would measure the charging current into the battery while the engine is running, and the quiescent current 16+ minutes after you shut the car down. The auto parts store/service center where I bought my last battery used a clamp-on ammeter to measure these things, along with a hydrometer and a large load resistor to check the battery. (In my case, one cell was shot.)

it cant be my battery, I just got the optima red top two months ago

That could be, but at this point, it would be very helpful if you could provide us with more facts and details about the circumstances before and surrounding your battery going dead rather than quick conclusions such as: Is it the alternator? It can't be the battery....

Please don't take this the wrong way -- I am trying to help -- but about all I can do with such things is wonder about what you haven't mentioned that leads you to draw these conclusions. Don't you want us to suggest some conclusions of our own that might help you? We can't do that without more facts.

thats the only thing I could think of, I checked to see if I left something on and I didnt. so I am going to charge the battery up to see if the starter works with a fully charged battery and if it starts it would make sense to be the alternator, which is stock with a 127k on it.

I found out what was wrong, its really weird for some reason my positive battery connection wasnt connecting even though it was tight on the terminal, so I cleaned the oxidation off the terminal with my finger and it started right up. :blink:

Glad to hear that you fixed your problem. Just make sure the battery can not disconnect again while you are driving hard or the resulting "load dump" may wipe out some expensive electronics.

Time to get out the the wire brush and contact cleaner!

glad to hear you're back in business M44ic! :)