Q: My 96 Ford Taurus alternator and battery tested good but battery won't stay charged
Car only runs if battery is fully charged for about 30 minutes. If u start the car then unhook the battery it doesn't run off the alternator it dies instantly. So of course every shop said oh replace your Alt which I did twice n still same thing. If you take the alternator off and test it it works fine as well as if you charge the battery it gets a full charge but if you test the alternator while on the car it reads nothing at all as if it's bad. I can't keep paying shops to change or test telling me it's a bad ALT when it's not that are the battery..Any Help on the subject?
My car has 144000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.
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Hello. If the alternator is testing good then you probably have a failure in the control circuit for the alternator. This can be a fuse, wiring or it can be the computer. I usually need to test the circuit with a voltage meter to find out where the issue is. If you want to have this done, consider YourMechanic, as a certified mechanic can come to you to [see why the alternator is not charging] https://www.yourmechanic.com/services/battery-will-not-hold-a-charge-inspection
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