Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Battery Light

I have a 2.0 GL with 130.000 miles
Driving home from work the other day my battery died, no battery light, or warnings. I replaced the battery, and it started up fine, lacking the tools to test the alternator, I pulled the negitive battery cable off well the car was running figuing that if the alternator was good the car would keep running, It died. Figuring it was the alternator I replaced that. Everything seemed fine I drove it around a bit that night after replacing the alternator, and once again no lights, nothing that seemed out of place. The bext day I start it back up and for the first time the battery light is on, I pull the negitive cable off and the car dies again. Any ideas on what could be the cause at this point? I'm thinking its possible I bought a bad alternator, but before I go and pull everything off to get it out again, does anyone have any suggestions?

Mega fuse between the alternator and the battery blown? prevents charging even on a good battery, or good alternator.

Where is the mega fuse located at?
And thanks for the quick response!

Take off the plenum chamber (big plastic box over the throttle body (two or three 10mm bolts IIRC) Then what you want to do is follow the red wire (thick one) from the back of the alternator to the mega fuse. The fuse its self is under a plastic cover with a tab release, (not 100% sure but I think its attached to the intake manifold) be careful not to break the tabs, the plastic gets very weak over time. My fuse literally said MEGA FUSE on it. If you have a multimeter you can test the fuse to see if its bad.

Excellent!
I'm thinking I'll have the alt checked before I start buying anymore parts though. I doubt I bought a bad one, but its cheaper to test it then it is to buy more parts.

Welcome VincentL . In the future, do not pull the negative terminal cable anymore. There are too many electronics in the car which can "fry" when you do that.