westend wrote:
hence headlights on, wipers on, plus radio/CD on for music. I've even had my vehicle's battery go almost dead in these conditions because the alternator with an only idling engine couldn't keep up.
This would indicate a problem with the vehicle's charging system and/or battery.
Not if it was a long, long, time ago. (Of course they didn't have CD players back then) My 64 Biscayne had a alternator (before that cars had generators) and I think it put out 40 amps or something like that. Plus, you had to rev the engine up to get that much output from it. I could see a scenario with that car where idling a lot with the fan and lights on would run down the battery. Not much of a battery in that car either. And, it was always out gassing from the caps where you had to frequently add water. This meant that the posts were usually corroded.
