Today my poor scion died. I stopped to fill up and when i went to turn it on, the gage didnt move and the lights came on on the panel and my headlights were dim. Some say alternator some say battery... Anyone out there know which is right?
Thanks

I have 60k miles and i'ts an 06.....

 

okay...if you jump start the car, and it continues to run without dying, it is probably the battery.

if you jump start it and it slowly runs out of electricity and dies, then it is the alternator not recharging the battery.

do you know how old the battery is?

 

its the factory battery. I once had an issue and had to jump the car and they told me that the battery in the car is a standard forever life battery.. does that make sense?

thanks so much.

 

Another easy check is once started, disconnect the battery... if car runs the alternater is good, if it shuts off its bad...

 

i replace my car batteries every 5 years even if its not needed i still change it

 

poor scion.. also see if the battery light is on.. if it is then most likely the alt if not then the battery

 

it's the alt.. thanks for all of your input... poor scion

 

I was gonna say... I'm still on my orginal batter since June 04' and it's still going strong.
Glad you know for sure now.

 

would you believe that there was nothing wrong with the scion. The battery passed tests, the altinator passed tests, and when put back together my baby is running fine!!!

There is a light on that I dont know about tho... the check engine light is on and someone said it's electrical, could that have been the issue?

Thanks all. Glad to be on this site.

GO SCION!

 

well, pull the CEL and find out. as for the problem start, could you have just left something on that drained the battery?

 

Sounds like something drained it down then. Now that my battery is getting older I throw a Battery Tender on it about once a week just to make sure it stays fully charged. It sits in the garage about 95% of the time.
Def check out what code the comp. is throwing and get it fixed. Make sure to erase the codes once the repair is done.

 

I work on cars for a living, and this is truly one of the easiest and quickest tests you can do. Also, you could go to any autozone or schucks and they can test both your alternator and battery for free. (because they're hoping you'll buy whatever's broken from them)

Good luck!