Yesterday morning at about quarter to 7 it was raining pretty hard and I was driving with all of my front lights on including fog lights, console lights on as bright as they go, and the rear defrosters on with windsheild wipers on as well... I was sitting at a stop light and all of a sudden I looked at my guages and I saw that my battery level was resting a mark or two past the red dots. I turned my fog lights off first thinking that would be the reason(i just replaced my bulbs yesterday because one was blown). That helped a little but it was still resting just outside of the dots. When i turned the rear defrosters off it almost immediately jumped above half way which is where it usually rests. Any help on this? It hasnt happened since even right after that

 

Weird malfunction? Low battery? Alternator dieing?

 

Is there any way to check the alternator?

 

Oh i just noticed the other post about alternators dying, but it doesnt exactly say if you can test them, but how exactly can i check the battery voltage

 

Did you sell your t/a to buy a SVT Focus Arctic?

 

maybe ur belt got wet and was slipping a little and then dried up from the engine heat?

 

Autozone can test the alternator and battery while they are still in the car. However, if the battery is bad, or very low, the load test can kill it, and then you're stuck unless you buy a battery or wait until yours is charged, if it can be charged.

 

alright thanks for the responses everybody, what exactly do they do for the load test?