Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting battery light on

You might be having the same problem I had. I have a 99SE V6 with 26,000mi. The car spends most of its time sitting so I thought my battery was just going low. Figured I wasn't driving it enough. Had my battery charged and drove the car for about 30 minutes and the battery light would come back on. Sounded to me like the alternator wasn't producing enough juice to keep the battery charged. If I drove the car long enough this way the battery would run down so much that the car would die.

Took it to the dealer and they said they couldn't find anything wrong. Of course the battery light never came on for them. I think they just let the car idle...rather than driving it which would have put a greater load on the charging system. I told them I thought the alternator was faulty but they said the charging system tested fine.

I reluctantly took the car back from the dealer and drove it around until I managed to get the light to come on. This time I brought it to them...still running (and fortunately before the car died)...with the battery light lit. This time they tested the system and they concluded that the alternator was indeed bad.

I have put about 500mi on the car since they installed the new alternator in July and I haven't had the problem since.

Good luck!