Alright so the car died the other day, went to jump it, as soon as cables are removed it would die. Charged and tested the battery, it was good, replaced the alternator and it still gives me the service battery indicator on the dash after the install. Any ideas as too why? Appreciate the help in advance

You probably didn't get the alternator plug to fully seat. I replaced my alternator recently and did the same thing...I towed the car several hours to a trusted evo shop and within 5 minutes I felt like a tool.

They said it happens a lot on the dyno too...the plugs come loose because they were not fully seated.

Good luck

Yea double checked everything not sure at this point. I'm about to take the motor apart to get to the harness and start checking it. Thinking its grounding out on the block somewhere

Where did you buy the alternator? Could be a defective part.

this does happen sometimes. You can take the alternator back to the parts store and they should be able to test it on the bench to see if its bad or not.

Also, how did you know the alternator was bad to begin with? The only thing you posted was that the battery was dead it was charged and tested good. Were you having electrical issues before this happened? Or did your car just need a jump once or twice?

When you go to the parts store, take both alternators back and have them bench tested.

Have you looked at your serpentine belt? Most of our cars (newer lancers) just got recalled because of pulley/belt issues. If your belt was bad, or loose, it could make it seem like the alternator isn't working right.

Check the fuse on your battery, that will give you issues, too. There's also a 60amp fuse in the fuse block behind the battery, make sure that's still good.


I'm having similar issues. I thought it was a bad wire on the harness on the alternator as it was nicked and didn't have any voltage. Replaced with a new piggyback, no luck, new alternator, no luck, new battery (old one wouldn't take a full charge on my battery charger), still no luck. Alternator tests good, continuity from the alternator wire to the battery tests good, but nothing coming from the alternator to the battery. Driving me nuts.

No luck, looks like my PCM crapped out. Garaged the car for now. bunch of BS