Hi all, I have some problem to start my car these days, and I really want to pinpoint what the problem. So if you have some ideas, just left me know, thanks a lot !
The car is a Volvo 850 wagon with 90K on it. the car runs smoothly once it is started. But for the past 3 weeks, I had quite a few times to have the car jump to start. Once it is started, everything runs smoothly.
At first, it happened almost ever day, if I left car there for 4 hours, I had to have it jumped. So I thought the battery was dead, and had it replaced. But somehow, it does not solve the problem completely. For every 3-4 day driving, I had to have it jumped once.
So I did some test on the battery. If I turn on the engine, and have it running for 1-2 minutes, the voltage number that I reads from the this battery is 13.6. If I turned on all the head-lights, A/C, and radio, with the running engine, the voltage reads as 13.4. Right after the engine was turn off, the voltage was 12.3, and the morning that I had problem to start the car, the voltage reads as: 4.
I notice on my dashboard there is bulb no longer works, the one for the "clock" area. Other than that, all other bulbs works fine.
Another thing I want to ask is how to check the output from the alternator. For this volvo, the alternator is under some other parts. All I can see is a thin wire, and a group of wires joint together.
Btw, this car did some fender work about 5 weeks ago and I started to have this battery problem 7 days after the car was delivered to me.
Thanks a lot for any tips !
CJ