2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse car stalls upon stops and brake/bat

IIISAMMYIII

MEMBER
2000 MITSUBISHI ECLIPSE
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
121,000 MILES

Hello, I live in Buffalo NY and I began having problems last winter where the car would require a jump several times if the temp dropped below 20. Spring/summer and fall were fine but this winter I have encountered significant problems. The first set of cold weather the brake and battery light began coming on and the car would stall when stopping at a light or sign but would start right up again. I replaced the battery but this did not change anything. 2 days later, 5 minutes into my drive the radio, then wipers died until 1 minute later the car completely died. I had it towed and the repair shop said my alternator failed the charge test and the new battery had a dead cell. They replaced the alternator and reused the battery and all was fine the first day but today (temperature 50 degrees) the car stalled a couple times at stops with the brake and battery light coming on. Im guessing it is either the battery cables or the wiring that leads to the alternator but wanted your opinion before taking it back in. Thank you for your time.

1 Reply

BUDDYCRAIGG

MECHANIC
2,262 POSTS

Using a battery with a bad cell is not a good idea.

Each cell has 2.1 volts in it.
So a fully charged battery has 12.6
with the engine running the alternator should put out around 13.5-15.

But if the battery has a bad cell. The battery only has 10.5 volts.

And that bad cell could be sucking every bit of power your alternator can produce.

Cars with computers made to run on 12.6 or more volts freak out when they only have 10.5 volts to go on.

So that could be making your brake light come on.

Or you could have real brake issues.