Car shopping still sucks

[Benevolent One]

I'm just sayin'. I thought it kinda sucked a few weeks ago when I started shopping for a used car. It is much worse now. Everything I see is either overpriced, has way too many miles on it, or way too many problems with it, or somebody else buys the damn thing before I can even get over to see it.

 

[shark77]

What are you shopping for?

 

[JustMe]

Everything is overpriced cause they know folks got income tax money to spend.

 

[AndyMarquisLive]

I'm just sayin'. I thought it kinda sucked a few weeks ago when I started shopping for a used car. It is much worse now. Everything I see is either overpriced, has way too many miles on it, or way too many problems with it, or somebody else buys the damn thing before I can even get over to see it.

Want my car? 5 grand -- only problems are: power steering doesn't work and the car battery doesn't hold a charge even after replacing the battery AND the alternator.

 

[fearless fred]

Want my car? 5 grand -- only problems are: power steering doesn't work and the car battery doesn't hold a charge even after replacing the battery AND the alternator.

Check your glove box light and if you have an underhood light sometimes they stay on, usually the glove box light is the culprit to run the battery down overnight. Easiest way to tell is remove and leave out the bulbs see if the problem goes away, what kind of vehicle is it?

 

[blue92]

Want my car? 5 grand -- only problems are: power steering doesn't work and the car battery doesn't hold a charge even after replacing the battery AND the alternator.

Sounds like you have something grounding out or the plug to the alternator isn't staying connected properly.

 

[Lap3Forever]

Check your glove box light and if you have an underhood light sometimes they stay on, usually the glove box light is the culprit to run the battery down overnight. Easiest way to tell is remove and leave out the bulbs see if the problem goes away, what kind of vehicle is it?

A friends battary kept going down, one night we was standing by the car and i noticed a light and it was comming from the trunk, the light was on, even tho it was shut.

 

[Jameswnh]

Want my car? 5 grand -- only problems are: power steering doesn't work and the car battery doesn't hold a charge even after replacing the battery AND the alternator

Fred is right, sometimes it's the little things that you miss and end up wasting money. Glove box light, trunk light, I even had an old Grand Marquis once that had a little light in the sun visor that stayed on and killed my battery once. If you have an aftermarket sound system or anything like that though, it's a good bet you'll find your problem there.

If you've got a multimeter, you can check to see if there is some kind of parasitic draw going on by taking off one of the battery cables and connecting the meter between it and the post. If you have more than 50 or so milliamps when the car hasn't been run for a while, there is something feeding off of it that shouldn't be. Take out fuses one by one until it goes below 50 mA, then use the wiring diagram to find the right circuit, and you'll have your culprit.

If you can't find anything, and your connections are all good, it's probably best to take it to a professional.

 

[Benevolent One]

I finally bought something. It's not much, but I got a pretty clean 99 Chevy Lumina with 111,000 miles for a little under the $2000 I had to spend. I don't even have to put tires on it. It's big enough to put the kids in comfortably when needed also.

 

[lisa]

I finally bought something. It's not much, but I got a pretty clean 99 Chevy Lumina with 111,000 miles for a little under the $2000 I had to spend. I don't even have to put tires on it. It's big enough to put the kids in comfortably when needed also.

congrats

 

[SlowNeasy]

i had a 93 chevy lumina, nice car. does not fare well in collisions. totals easily. <g>