Help car died while driving!!!!

[Jcrupp]

My 04 vibe gt died while driving won't crank at all now but the lights and radio comes on like the battery is good can't be the starter it wouldn't have died while driving can't be the fuel pump it would atleast crank over and not start I'm not sure what it could be

04 vibe gt

[Caretaker]

Alternator time. This is what happened to my '09, just as I was pulling up to a Costco gas station. I got it jump started 2 times, and limped over to the nearest service station. They tested the alternator and battery after the car sat in their lot for 2 hours and said everything was starting and running fine. I drove the car back home 15 miles without incident. I then went to my mechanic and had him put in a new alternator; all has been well for 2 years. I'm guessing once the wiring inside the alternator cooled down, it ran like nothing was wrong.

[Jcrupp]

The only problem with that theroy is if it was the alternator there would be no power to anything light radio ect. And I would be able to jump start it or put a new battery in it and it would atleast crank or turn over but it won't

[vibrologist]

The only problem with that theroy is if it was the alternator there would be no power to anything light radio ect. And I would be able to jump start it or put a new battery in it and it would at least crank or turn over but it won't

Not quite, JC. You have an alternator and a battery working together. Actually it is not a battery it's an accumulator. And then you have a PCM computer that is very sensitive to voltage jumps. A bad alternator will cause voltage irregularities that can affect the computers operation.

Have you checked the fuses and relays? If a fuse has burnt out you need to check that circuit to find the cause of the burn out.

I think your best approach would be to have both the battery and the alternator tested. You can remove them and take them to a decent parts store where they have the testing equipment. They do that free of charge.
If both test fine I would be looking for bad ground connections. Then for any electrical connections. Sometimes all you have to do is to disconnect and reconnect to remove corrosion.
The ignition switch at the column could be causing this.

Beyond that I am not sure.

Good luck!

[korax234]

Get a cheap multimeter from Harbor Freight check the voltage at your battery. If it is under 12 volts your battery is weak.

Than start the car and check the voltage again at the battery if it goes over 14 volts then your alternator is working and
charging the battery. If it isn't the alternator is bad or there is a bad connection somewhere.

Here watch my video on how to check it.

https://youtu.be/rdMeorVHRIA