I'd take it (if you can) to AutoZone or Checker (O'Reilly's). They will both test the battery/alternator for you for free.

If it is the alternator, then it's a pain in the butt, but something that is do-able in your garage if you're handy with a wrench.

 

Thanks if I had a way to tow it there I would but I had AAA take it back to the house

 

sounds like alternator to me,
when alternator goes out, car drives on battery till battery is dead also,
from first sign of seeing battery light come on, you may get 20 miles out of it,
first battery light comes on, then other lights come on, dash panel starts going haywire,
usually you can charge the battery and get to a local shop with battery power alone,
i have driven from Virginia to NYC with a bad alternator,
bought a second battery along the way, and every so often would stop at a shop and have them charge my batteries,
drive on the batteries till the next shop.
and just couple months ago alt went out on my sisters liberty,
she was in the bronx and got her home to queens with a dead alternator just by stopping and charging her battery along the way.

and by charge i dont mean a quick jump,
if charging from another vehicle charge it for a good +30 minutes,
if you have a charger at home, charge it overnight and it will get you to a shop in the morning

 

sounds like alternator to me,
and by charge i dont mean a quick jump,
if charging from another vehicle charge it for a good +30 minutes,
if you have a charger at home, charge it overnight and it will get you to a shop in the morning

Thanks man I figured as much my first car did the same thing i just wanted to get a second opinion before i spent the money. I'm not a certified mechanic by any means just work on cars as a hobby.epper:

 

I agree with everything TERASEC said , It sounds like the alternator to me! has there been any issues with starting up till this point? [quote
JoeysPatriot
I have had a similar issue with my first car when i was a teenager and pulled the positive on the battery and it died. So I'm thinking its the alternator][/quote] I don't know that that's safe to do on our patriots with so many electronic componets! have you replaced your battery yet? just as UA said take the battery out and have it checked at autozone...the alternator can also be bench tested and is more accurately tested off the car. good luck and keep us posted!

 

I agree with everything TERASEC said , It sounds like the alternator to me! has there been any issues with starting up till this point?

No there hasn't been any issues with my Jeep, my first car was a used 1998 Escort. I replaced the battery about a year ago with an optima because i have a system in my car.

 

I drive a 2008 Patriot and had the exact same problem last week. Charging light illuminated, then 40 minutes later random warning lights flashing on the dash. Then it slowed down to around 3mph. Breakdown truck did some tests and told me it was the alternator. I bought one but when it was fitted I still got the charging light on. My mechanic eventually tracked fault down to cable that runs between alternator and starter motor. The ring terminal had snapped off where it is terminated on the starter motor solonoid. This is under the battery tray so not easy to spot. Remedy is to remove battery tray, fit a new ring terminal (i used a 10-8 eyelet crimp) then re assemble. If anyone needs a new alternator let me know as I now have a spare one!
Russ

 

I need one but I live in Arrowhead california

 

alternator charging probe on Jeep Patriot my 2007 2L DIESEL

The last thread by runs is spot on. I made the mistake of changing the alternator. Luckily family business replaced for free. No difference. Checked the B+ cable (under neath battery box) and the eyelet to starter motor had sheared off. Now repaired and system is charging fine. Shame on you jeep. For a 120A alternator, you have used a crimp eyelet not rated at 50A!!!!. To save the misdiagnosis, I recommend a volt meter set to 12v dc or higher, on the B+ nut at back of alternator with other probe to chassis or battery ground. If battery voltage is 12v but alternator is around 14.5 you have a broken cable between alt and starter. If all at 12v then alternator regulator, winding, or diodes have probably failed. Other failures could be ground to engine has failed, control circuits (2 pin connector wires damaged) or pcm. Another failure could be cell down on battery (10.4v) which could damage alt again. I tried a full electric load test at idle and alternator couldn't go above 12.6 so watch out for this too. Reving brought back efficiency of output. Hope this helps.

 

The last thread by runs is spot on. I made the mistake of changing the alternator. Luckily family business replaced for free. No difference. Checked the B+ cable (under neath battery box) and the eyelet to starter motor had sheared off. Now repaired and system is charging fine. Shame on you jeep. For a 120A alternator, you have used a crimp eyelet not rated at 50A!!!!. To save the misdiagnosis, I recommend a volt meter set to 12v dc or higher, on the B+ nut at back of alternator with other probe to chassis or battery ground. If battery voltage is 12v but alternator is around 14.5 you have a broken cable between alt and starter. If all at 12v then alternator regulator, winding, or diodes have probably failed. Other failures could be ground to engine has failed, control circuits (2 pin connector wires damaged) or pcm. Another failure could be cell down on battery (10.4v) which could damage alt again. I tried a full electric load test at idle and alternator couldn't go above 12.6 so watch out for this too. Reving brought back efficiency of output. Hope this helps.

Hi there,
having the same problem, found that cable shared off, tried to checked it but couldnt start it all all.

a bit more details:

Got the battery indicator light up, the battery is almost new. Connected a voltmeter to battery to see if alternator is charging it. It wasnt.
Tried to find this B+ terminal on the alternator as it was suggested in the post above but I couldnt, seems that you need to remove a lot before u get there.
So I read that post above and removed the battery and its bottom support. I found two cables there one thick and another smaller. The small one was shared. I was happy that I might not need to replace the alternator.
I undo the nut to disconnect the big cable, cleaned everything from corrosion, put the big one back.
Then I wanted check if this is a problem.
I connected the battery thru the starting cables (it was standing in the floor)
and I tried to start the engine but i couldnt. The strater couldnt run.

Now I'm confused and dont know what to do. PAT was starting fine with now issues and i didnt do anything except unplugging the battery.

I noticed that the stud where those cables were connected to the starter is a bit loose. Could this stud be an issue of running the starter? Please help, cant live with my PAT, using buses now, buses are sucks

 

Can you post picks please .having same problem but not so handy with cars.

 

good luck changing the alternator , I changed mine about 6 months ago and it was a PITA!! took me about 2 hrs to change ( mostly bc i forgot how the belt was routed and had to look it up on my phone!!!)