Questions and Answers

Jeep Cherokee Killing Batteries Q. I have a 1990 Jeep Cherokee, 4.0 liter six cylinder, automatic transmission with 150,000 miles on it. It is fuel injected with ABS, power steering, air and cruise control. I noticed that my battery gauge was showing that my battery wasn't charging and would go even lower when I turned on the radio, headlights, defrost or A/C or even put the car in gear.

I drove it and parked at a store and when I came back out it was dead. I got a jump and drove it home with it trying to die on me all the way home. We put a new battery in that night and the next day it did the same thing to the new battery, I had the alternator checked and it was fine, but the battery wasn't charging.

They said they didn't know what the problem was, but that it was something electrical and it would take five hours to diagnose at $52.00 per hour. Do you have any suggestions before I fork out that kind of money?

Thanks…

A. This is a little strange. Unless you take the alternator out of the car and bench test it, the test connections are the battery terminals. So if the alternator is charging at the battery terminals, it should be charging the battery.

I would find an automotive electrical shop and let them check it. This is a simple charging system, and it should be easy to troubleshoot. My money is on a bad alternator.