Dead Battery (Alternator?) 1997 Jeep Wrangler...

Are you sure you got all the wires and your connections are tight and clean? No stress, no poor crimps. The charging circuit is fairly high amperage so bad connections can lead to heat that just makes the connection worse. Personally I'd go with new wires.

The battery gage dropping like that is telling you one of two things.

1) the battery has an internal defect (cracked cell, loose terminal) 2) the battery connection is failing (connector or wire)

Might have someone test it again just to make sure. Starting is the highest draw on a battery.

I suspect the battery is not charging properly. This could be a missing wire or damaged battery harness. Make sure you look around for any wire the thief's might have cut that hasn't been repaired.

I agree with Doug. Replacement battery wire ends are more trouble than they are worth. Get new wires with molded ends on them. There also may be a wire that you missed that the thieves cut. I am thinking of the wire that feeds the alternator, for example. "Died in the projects", damn, call a tow truck.

Earle

I'm thinking that you have a bad cable, bad ground, etc that is aggrevatating the alternator and battery. Pretyy much the whole system is the battery, alternator, 2 big cables, one smaller cable from the alternator to the battery.

The fact that the gauge seems to fluctuate on occassion and or dim lights usually means a cable is flexing and giving a poor connection. Repair terminals are a first part to look at.

Your local parts place will test the alternator for free. The local battery place will test you battery (under load, after charg> Let's see if I can find anything out here that will help. This will

And buy the heaviest gauge cables you can afford.

Someone should mention the engine to body ground strap before Mike does.

Earle

Heh, I would have aimed him at the connections he replaced first....

The positive battery terminal clamp has 2 positive cables in it. These two wires crammed into that clamp are usually a weak spot.

As a matter of fact I have to go and clean those 'exact' connections today on my wife's Cherokee due to fluctuating charging with the lights dimming and a 'bad' no start in the cold situation.

The sucker will turn over just fine, but it needs a boost to fire up! That implies the smaller wire which controls the charging and fuse panel isn't getting good enough power.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail > I was thinking about sticking that tidbit in my response, figured Mike

You can get a molded battery cable with a pigtail for the small one, but they are hard to find. Some people run a wire to the big starter terminal to avoid having two wires in that clamp.

Earle

The gauge wire used was probably marginal when the vehicle is new, after a few years of corrosion you are asking for trouble.

Thanks a million, everyone. This is all really helpful. I love my car, and I want to keep it going for a long time (it only has 110,000 miles on it) so all of this info is a huge boon for the long-run.

I was able to use a battery charger to start it up, and I drove with it still attached to the mechanic's. He's checking it out now; we'll see what he says. But at least it's out of the projects, and it's daylight, which always makes the projects a little less scary.

Again, thanks.

One quick follow-up: Since this happened earlier, and it resulted in me paying $400 for a new alternator, should I be worried that was a completely unnecessary job? If the problem was faulty/ corroded wires, should I be making a fuss with the mechanic?

EganReich proclaimed:

Some otherwise perfectly capable mechanics have problems dealing with electrical problems. If there is an alternator specialty shop in your area, they may be a better bet in diagnosing and recovering from wiring issues.

You must have a really long extension cord.