Hello. I'm new to the Grand Prix, I pretty much had my hopes set on getting my Dodge Neon fixed, but it's in much worse shape than the Grand Prix we have.

We have a 1989 Grand Prix LE, 2.8L ATX. It's pretty much had problems since we aquired it used from a local dealer. I'm buying it off of my dad, who bought it originally, and after 2 breakdowns and repairs (culminating in a week visit to the shop each time), my dad came home one day during his workday, and parked it, and got in the Neon, our backup car, and drove off. The GP sat there for months, I'm not sure how long, and I have been fighting with the Neon and it's overheating problems just recently when I realized the GP's potential.

I was under the impression that the tranny was toast, but it's been discovered that it drives still. The problem is that the months of sitting in front of our house has killed the battery. It has absolutely no juice when the key is turned, unless I hook it up to the Neon's battery, then after about 5 minutes it starts rough, but ok. Theoretically, a jump start should be good enough to drive it, but after unhooking the Neon's battery the first time I jumped it, I put it into reverse, backed up, hit the brakes, and it died. I then re-jumped it, and revved it some, and was far enough back from the Neon that I could just go. I drove around the block, each corner was worrisome, the instrument cluster would dim when the brakes were applied, and flash once. The speedometer had troubles then too.

I'm thinking it's the alternator, because a night inspection of the instrument cluster revealed that the light level fluctuates even at idle with no lights on exterior. I turned the headlights on and it died. I did let it sit for 15 minutes or so with both cars at idle the first time I jumped it, so it's not just when I do a quick jump. Another problem is that the battery was brand new when it was put in, before the car sat all that time.

Anyone know of a way to charge the battery short of driving it around? I don't have money for even a trickle charger or anything, so that's out. I might be able to borrow one from someone. Is there any way I could use the Neon's battery in the GP? I considered just putting the Neon battery on the floor in the passenger side of the GP and running the jumper cables down into the hood, but I figured that might be a stupid idea, but I'm willing to try anything, I just don't have the money to buy a new battery, alternator, or anything right now.

How would I test the alternator? Could I hook it up to the Neon's battery and leave it overnight, to charge it some? I know the Neon has a working alternator, so that's not really a problem.

Thanks all. I know this is 1997-03 GP's, but I can't find any more GP resources on the net.

Sounds like you might have a bad alternator. If you contact your local automotive shop and ask them if they charge a fee to check the charging system of the car. I used to work in an automotive shop many, many moons ago and we never charged a fee for this check. It's simple and quick. You will need to be able to get the car to them so they can hook up the machine to the battery while the car is running. Then they will be able to tell you what needs to be replaced...battery, alternator, or both.

Good luck!

Yea, most chain auto stors test charging systems. Also a completely dead batt. won't charge up by driving around, you have to charge them some. In the old days when there were generators you could. Charge the batt, then have the system checked( someone you trust), parts are $$$$$$. P'CHOP