engine and drivetrain Car died with alt. light on.

[SHEN]

My battery (73-tii) seems to have a lot of charge as the headlights stayed on after the engine died. I was coasting down hill when I notice the battery light on. I gave it gas to rev the engine high to see if theres any difference but thats when it died so I coasted further downhill and parked it. When the engine ran towards the end it seemed to be fighting reving higher. This morning I need to go back and fix it so it dosn't get a ticket but I don't even know what caused the problem. I was hoping someone else would know of a problem where the engine has plenty of fuel and charge in the battery but just would not not run and the battery lights on. .

[Mike Self]

Did the car die before or after the alt. light came on? If the light came on after the engine died, that's normal. If before, it means that something in your charging system is amiss--alternator, belt, voltage regulator or wiring.

If the latter were the case, your headlights and other electricals would still work just fine, and if the battery still has juice, your engine should continue to run until the battery runs out of charge--and that could be quite a while if you weren't running headlights or another large current draw.

Sounds as if you have a problem with the ignition system somewhere--you ran out of spark plug juice (i.e. your plugs aren't firing). That can be any number of things: coil, wiring to coil, something amiss in the dizzy, cap, rotor, condenser, etc etc.

Let us know what you find.

mike

[c.d.iesel]

...have you opened the hood and looked inside ?

how is the temp gauge behaving?

is the alternator/water pump belt still present on the pulleys?

look at your battery, alternator, and voltage regulator wiriing

while your visiting in there

motor 'slowing up' and laboring because it's over heating ? and seizing up ?

last oil change ? oil level now?