Arro

I never disconnected the battery while running the car but Billman speaks the truth "jump starting, and allowing the alternator to charge a dead battery...-driving around with a bad battery".

In 2010, my 2004 S came down with a case of flickering dash lights. I went to Autozone and they hooked their test system up and said the rectifier in the alternotor was bad and I had a weak battery. I replaced the battery which was the original from when the car was new with a Duralast (autozone brand) yellow top. This of course did not fix the flickering dash (I knew it wouldn't) but was the cheaper repair at the time since I figured I needed a new battery anyways. 9 months later, the car wouldn't turn over, so i got a jump and went to Autozone. They again hooked their test system up to it and told me this time the battery had a dead/dry cell in it. I had already bought a 17K mile used OEM (Nippon Denso) alternator from the classifieds on the forum because of the flickering dash. Autozone replaced my battery and I went home and installed the "new to me" alternator. The alternator install was no difficult and took about 30 minutes - just takes some wigging to get the thing out. Problem solved - no more flickering in the dash and the car runs great!

I think the original battery went bad first and toasted the rectifier by evidence of the flickering dash. Now did the bad rectifier contribute to the dead/dry cell in the new battery? I'm not sure. But since I've replaced both the battery and alternotor, I've had no issues and the car is wonderful to drive.

Please don't think I'm advocating replacing both your alternator AND battery. Find out which one is the source of the problem and fix it. i just thought I would share since the new battery did not fix my alternator problems, and running a new battery with a bad rectifier might damage the new battery - I would love to hear Billman's opinion on this.