When The Battery Light Comes On Does This Mean The Battery Is Going Dead?

It probably means that your alternator went, and ran the battery dead. If the battery is fairly new, replace the alternator and you should be fine. If the batt is getting old, replace it as well.

Someone who knows cars told me that if the lights come on even dimly, it's not the alternator just the battery. Anyway, how much does it cost to replace the alternator on a '96 Saturn SL?

If the

If you replace the alt, charge the battery up prior to running the car so as not to overwork the new alt. If I were you I would probably check for a parasitic draw as well.

On Sauternes that battery light is actually an indicator that the alternator is going out. I had to replace mine on my 95SL1 early this year or late last year.

Since I didn't have the tools to do the work myself I had to take my car into a shop to do the work. I can't remember exactly how much I spent, but I did save some money by buying the alternator from an autoparts store myself and then taking it to the mechanic to be installed. That way the shop did not have to charge me a mark up on the part.

I did not change my battery when I changed the alternator and have not had any problems with it.

Mark.

Did this affect the warranty or repair garuntee that the shop normally provides as part of their service? IIRC, many shops won't allow you to give them the replacement parts, since they say they can't be sure where the part you gave them came from.

-rj

98SL2

Where are the most likely places to look if the battery is being drained?

You usually pull one fuse from the fuse block at a time to see if there is a large drop in amps being drawn. First you need to know what the typical draw is. A google search for "parasitic draw test" should provide you with what you need to know.

Look under the car for a puddle of electrons.

;-)

Presumably your battery is dead now, but the battery light indicates a problem in the charging system, most likely your alternator is bad.

Actron Charging System Tester

Sears item #00947099000 Mfr. model #CP7611

Versatile charging system (battery and alternator) tester requires no internal battery of its own and is ultra-compact for maximum convenience. Color-coded LEDs. Tests 12V batteries

You need one of the above to know for sure..........

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Alternator Replacement Procedure:

1. Write down all of your radio station presets (optional) 2. Disconnect negative battery cable (most assuredly NOT optional)

5/16" wrench works well 3. Jack up the right front corner of the car 4. Put a jack stand under the car. 5. Remove the right front wheel 6. Remove the two plastic splash shields (you pull the plastic center pins out of the fasteners to remove). 7. Use a 14 mm wrench to remove tension from the accessory belt (turn wrench clockwise on the bolt in the center of the idler pulley). 8. Move the belt off of a pulley to remove tension from it. 9. Remove the 10 mm bolt holding the splash shield onto the alternator

1. Unsnap the splash shield from the alternator.
2. Unbolt the cable running from the alternator to the starter AT THE STARTER.
3. Carefully pry the clip up from the other alternator connector and remove it from the alternator. Be careful not to break the clip off of the connector.
4. Remove the upper alternator bolt (13 mm) from above.
5. Remove the lower alternator bolt (13 mm) from below.
6. Remove alternator down through the wheel well.

You now have the alternator with a 1 ft cable attached. You need to remove this. The Chilton's manual suggests using a 13 mm wrench that is only about 60 thousands of an inch thick to hold the stud coming from the alternator (to prevent it from turning). Such wrenches are quite difficult to find. I removed the cable from the alternator by putting two 10 mm nuts on the top of the stud and tightening them against each other. Then, I used one 10 mm wrench to loosen the nut holding the cable while using another 10 mm wrench against the bottom of the two 10 mm nuts that I put at the top.

The bottom line in working without the stud coming out from the alternator is you don't want to put any torque on it with respect to the alternator. It is (ahem) not a robust design. When you get this cable off, put it on the same position on the new alternator and tighten it similarly (using something to hold the stud into the alternator to keep it from turning. Either a very thin 13 mm wrench, or the double nut trick. Then reverse steps 15 to 1 in reverse order.