So you're all familiar with my daughter's POS 1994 Beretta. When we got it, the battery wouldn't stay charged. Autozone checked the battery, and that checked out as good. But the alternator was bad, so we replaced that. Now her battery is running low on juice again. If the batt is good and the alt is good, could bad wires be causing this? What else?

Looking for any ideas here. Don't want to leave her stranded....

Yes wire are the next bet. I would change those out.

yep change them out

Check the starter too. I'll PM you my number. I have time on Wednesday to help you try to find any current draw.

Thanks guys. Al, I shot you a PM.

You need to have the car checked for a parasitic draw by a competent mechanic.

If you know anybody with an inductive ammeter I can walk you through how to test the car.

A parasitic draw is when something in the car stays on when it shouldn't.

Something as simple as a glove box lamp that never turns off can cause this.

When the car sits overnight with a light bulb on it sucks the battery down. Batteries HATE to be discharged. If you could take a battery and never let the thing get below 12.6 volts it would last 100 years.

Draws kill alternators... because when you go to start the car in the morning the alternator has to run wide open at 100% for a few minutes to bring the battery back up to strength. This overheats and destroys voltage regulators over time.

If the car gets driven for nothing but short trips (like what your typical teenager does) it destroys batteries and alternators with a quickness.

That sounds like what was happening before we put the new alternator on, but when I went out this morning to see what was wrong, the car started right up and the battery meter was near the top. I drove for about five minutes and the battery meter went down to about three-quarters and stabilized there.

If something was staying on, wouldn't the battery be dead or more drained this morning?

Either way, goldrocket will figure it out, I have no doubt!