Battery question
 

02 Alero 3.4


I have access to another vehicle, so i parked my alero in the garage for the past 2 months because i have to swap out one of my wheel bearings. I went to start up the Alero yesterday and it was dead, no juice. Hooked up some jumper cables and it fired up right away. I let it run for about 3 minutes and just it off. When i went to start it up again, it wouldn't fire up on its own, i had some interior lights working, but not enough to fire the engine. Im in Ontario, Canada so it's been sitting in sub zero temps. Does it just need a good half hour drive to recharge the battery? Is this common?
Thanks

3 minutes at idle is not enough to charge a fully depleted battery. The alternator doesn't put out enough amperage at idle to give you much charge at all.

Driving for about 15-20 minutes ought to give it a good charge. Or better yet, pull the battery and charge it with a battery charger, then your alternator won't have to do the work and you won't waste any gas, plus you'll know the battery is fully charged.

It's also going to depend on how old the battery is. You may have dealt it a fatal blow or it could be just a bump on the head. You won't know until you get the battery re-charged at see what happens.
Next time you anticipate it sitting for a long period of time you should disconnect it to keep this from happening again. Batteries are not cheap these days.

Thanks guys, battery is not that old. about a year or so. The only battery charger i have is on that i use for ski doo's and sea doo's. It has a switch on it though. How many volts is a car battery? 12?

Just checked out my charger, for the 12 V setting should i charge at 2amps or 10 amps?

I would use the 2 amp setting. A slow charge is not as hard on a battery since it doesn't generate as much heat. Also, I would charge it somewhere warm, not while the battery is very cold. The 2 amp setting will take longer, but will be better on the battery.

How long do you think i should charge on the 2amp setting?

I just did one that was dead enough to only click the starter solenoid. After 4 hours at 2 amps, the car started just fine. Up to about 8 hours shouldn't hurt it though.

I charged it 8 hours at 2 amps, started right up. Thanks.

Going out to replace my wheel bearing now.