alternator?

I went to the gas station to get some coors light. when i come out to start the heep. it acts kind of funny (my stereo was reset as if i disconnected battery). i go to Burger king, and cut it off in the drivethru- starts fine. on the way home i was bassing out ( lightning cap, 1000w amp, 3 10's) with the heater fan on high. the alt. gauge started dipping way low with every bass. and the head lights were getting unusaully dim. i got home, turned it off, and when i hit the lock button, the interior lights dimmed up. so im like great, no juice on the battery. try to start it, and click the battery is dead. am i right on assuming its a bad alt? then only thing making the guage jump down was the stereo, other than that it was reading on the mid line.. its the original 125,000 on it. starter just went last week. thanks guys. the battery is 3 years old- the best napa one... i appreciate it

maybe you will be lucky and its just corroded terminals on the battery. That would cause the symptoms you describe and is totally free to check and clean.

Sounds like a bad battery.

thanks for the quick help fellas. Rust heap was right. i ''looked'' at the terminals before i posted, and they APPEARED ok, but upon further removing the terminals, they were caked up white and corroded underneath. i took a straight screwdriver and cleaned/scraped the posts and terminals- back to normal. man i feel like an idiot for posting so quick- i just got scared bc i have to be at work at 7 am tomarrow! i guess this will be helpful for searchers. off to autozone tomarrow for fresh terminals.
keywords: alternator, terminals, battery, corrosion, no power, battery acid posts

And you want me to delete this?
Naw, we can leave it for posterity.

Okie Terry said:

And you want me to delete this?
Naw, we can leave it for posterity.

Click to expand...

yea your right. somebody not using their noggin' like me may run across the same problem...at first i thought it would save bandwith, but then i just think about Rock Rash's threads in the Den