Dead battery - Is the alternator bad?

[Ian c]

It's too dark to take pictures now , but .....

I run instrumentation-tech. crews on power plants and where I'm at now one of the final things that needs doing on this site is remove a big pile of dry dirt/dust that has been there for about two years , so we can do a db check on the 6 new jet engines we just fitted running full-on , all at once .
This means Over 50 trucks loaded with dirt and dust doing continuous journeys past my car .
And a water truck going 8 hours a day trying to keep the dust down , but mainly creating puddles of mud .
That , and the fact I haven't washed it since BEFORE a full day of autocross about a month ago , probably makes your car look like a garage queen next to mine

The boxster doesn't look TOO bad though , that's only been at the plant once this last week ....
But judging by people reactions on here when i posted pics of the pink wheels , it probably would look better to most if it was caked in mud

[Ian c]

Forget that essay for now .
On the way home I had to call at Barbour frieght to buy a soldering iron to de-amber my headlights , and noticed they have a multimeter with everything needed apart from audible continuity for around $5.00 .

With hindsite , I should have just bought one tonight to assist my essay with pics .
But I will go buy one tommorrow , and take pics of me doing a basic "battery issues" check .

I will then start another thread detailing the steps needed to work through electrical gremlins


It does not have a continuity function so I will use one of my flukes for that part , as that is a vital "quick 'n' easy" test that is VERY valuable when working on car electrics ...

I don't expect everybody who works on cars to spend hundreds on fluke meters , but the $5.00 harbor freight meter at a minimum should be in everybody's toolkit

They also have one with continuity on sale at the moment for $20.00

The one 3.2 bought from RadioShack looks similar , and is not too much money at $20 if you have an RS nearby but no HF , but there is one with continuity for a few bucks more ...