Pretty sure my alternator just went out. Need Advice

[OR VietVet]

It died about 2min from my house and my brother in law pulled me home. Had to remove the battery to charge it. Battery is fully charged.

Did you load test the battery after charging? The battery may be kaput after running without the alternator working. IMO, the least expensive way to attempt this is a new battery, especially if over 2 years old. Also depends on the battery quality itself. Lots of off brands out there that I do not trust. I trust AC Delco or Interstate. Other quality batteries out there, I guess, but I have not deviated from these two and never had a problem.

 

[Mercerbeef]

The charger has a tester on it that says it’s good , I don’t have a load tester.
It’s a delco.
I’ll see if I can borrow one tomorrow.

 

[rockola1971]

Charge battery overnight and take to any auto parts store.(battery must be fully charge to get a proper load test) They will load test it for you for free. The voltage measurement of a battery tells NOTHING of its ability to produce current flow (load test). A battery can have a dead cell and still be at 12v or above but its current flow ability could be at 0. A car battery has 6 cells that produce around 2v but you get a little more out of each one that is why a fully charged battery usually is well over 12v. But if a cell is shorted then now you have 5 cells x 2v which is 10v+. A full charged battery will drop to around 10.5v while cranking the engine over so the dead cell scenario aint gonna run a 12v starter with a battery that is only producing 10v and dropped even lower when loaded down by a starter designed to be used on a 12v power feed.