A week ago my check engine light came on and then shut off after a few days. It came on again and I fixed it the old fashioned way - disconnected the battery for a few minutes. Problem solved...

I started my 2000 RS up at lunch the yesterday and it was sluggish on the start. On the way back to work the ABS and AT light came on and the speedo and tach died.

I shut the car off when I got back to work and tried to start it up and nothing. Sounded like the battery was dead. Being the stock original battery I figured it was about time.

I started the car after work fine and about 10 miles into my commute the ABS light was back on and then the speedo and tach died. The car was starting to die - no power no matter how hard I stepped on the gas.

I coasted into a gas station. Charged the battery - started the car and the battery was losing power. I assumed my alternator was dead. Got a tow home and installed a new alternator.

The car started up and died again - the battery was still not charging. I ran a wire from the alternator mounting bolt to the battery negative and the car started up and the battery charged up to about 13 volts and I declared success.

Hope this helps someone in the future when they search.

Craig

CN - car died - thought it was alternator - grounded alternator to battery negative FTW.

good to know. this gives me additional impetus to get off my duff and rig up a better grounding system for my car.

Cool! I relocated my battery and am concerned about efficacy of my grounding scheme; I'll give this a shot.

Thanks for the input!