My car will only start if I jiggle the battery around, and I did clean the connections a while ago.

Something is also making a whining/whirring sound and it gets louder as RPM's go up.

Also, today when coming to stop signs the speedo would go crazy and car would stumble a tiny bit when at a complete stop.

I have a feeling they're all related to each other, anybody have ideas?

 

I'd have the alternator checked.. The whirring sound could be the bearing going bad.. It would also cause the battery to drain since if the alt. was bad, the car would be drawing straight off the battery while running... That would drain it.

 

so would the drained battery have anything to do with the wacky gauges?

 

A bad alternator will cause the gauges to go crazy sometimes... It will also cause the car to run rough because the injectors etc aren't getting the correct power... I'd have both the battery and alt. checked... Since you said it was making a whirring sound, I thought "alternator"... An old trick is to place a long screwdriver or something similar on the housing of the alt. while running and put your ear to the other end.. That way you can pinpoint if the sound is actually coming from the the alternator.

 

Whining/whirring sound could also be a bad diode in the alternator. That will reduce the output of the alternator by almost 40%. A shop with a Voltage Amperage Tester (VAT) can check both the battery capacity and alternator output. Shouldn't cost too much and some shops will do it for free in the hopes of getting the repair work.
Beware the tester that is a hand held unit.... they are not worth the time.
Terry

 

i put my money on the battery being bad, and if it is it WILL burn up your alternator if you leave it like that. heres why i think its the battery,

you said that when you shake the battery that the car stumbles, that tells me that the battery is bad, the alternator would not cause that problem when you move the battery.

second, if you completely remove the battery and run the car, the alternator WILL whine like that because it`s being overloaded because of no battery.

if the battery was damaged internally, it would do the same thing. the alternator cannot supply enough current by itself to properly run the system, if there was not a battery in the car it will stumble and the gauges would go crazy, especially when you press the brake or turn on something.

go get the battery looked at before you cook your alternator, good luck and keep us posted.

 

I had a whining sound from my alt. in my mustang. Turned out the magnets got off balance and were getting seriously ground down every time the car was running. They obviously didn't allow the alt. to charge the battery at all and slowly but slowly got worse until I couldn't stand the noise. I never had the car sitting or running long enough to let the battery completely die, but it sure did come close before I decided to get it fixed. I agree that's your problem.

 

Check the battery cables, too. If your battery can move - you said you can shake it - the battery mount is loose or broken and will let the battery beat it's insides to death. It's probably got an internal intermittent short. This movement can also adversly affect the cables, but I agree tha batt. sounds to be the main culprit.

 

[QUOTE=white/blackss]
you said that when you shake the battery that the car stumbles, that tells me that the battery is bad, the alternator would not cause that problem when you move the battery.
[QUOTE]

Sorry, I meant I have to shake the battery around to get the car to start, and the car stumbled when sitting at a stop sign, but didn't die.

My battery isn't held down because I can't find anything to hold it down with, maybe the hold-down is missing or something.

 

yea but why do you have to shake it?

you shouldn`t have too, i bet if you find out why you have to shake it youll fix your problem.

i once had a battery like that and it actually exploded in my face!!! that wasn`t fun, so did you get it looked at yet?

 

I have to shake the battery when the car dies, because it will always start up fine after i do that.

I'm going to go to Wal-Mart and have it checked today after school. Yes, the battery mount is broken which is probably my problem as Z28nut said.

Thanks guys