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I have a 2008 3.5 HL. Last night, my wife was driving the car and noticed smoke coming from the hood on the passenger side (I suspect from the alternator). She parked and immediately turned the car off. She mentioned that the last thing she remembered was the battery light being on before she shut off the car.

After a few minutes, she tried to start the car again, but there was no response from the battery at all.

Today, I tried two different jump starters (both the big ones with air pumps and the small lithium ones), but neither of them worked. When I connected them, the gauge lights turned on, but when I attempted to start the car, everything shut off and didn't turn back on.

I HOPE the issue is with the battery and that it will be resolved with a battery replacement (I've ordered a new battery and will receive it tomorrow). However, I'm afraid it could be something else.

PS: I removed the old battery and connected the jump starters directly to the battery hooks (the wires that connect the battery terminals to the car), but nothing happened.

PS2: When I tried the lithium jump starter, liquid came out of it and it died!

PS3: I checked the battery terminals using a multi-meter and it showed solid 0.

UPDATE: Today, I tested a new battery in the car. Firstly, the alternator started smoking as soon as I connected the new battery to the car, even before I started the car. So, I disconnected the battery and, after a few minutes, tried again; it didn't smoke. However, after I started the car, it began smoking again.

I tried to check the voltage on the battery poles while the car was running, and it was around 12.4. It seems the alternator couldn't recharge the battery. I also attempted to check the voltage between the battery and alternator (negative to negative, positive to positive, negative to positive), and both alternator sides seemed okay in terms of voltage drop. However, the voltage before and after the alternator didn't change, indicating that the alternator isn't functioning at all and should be replaced!

best_of_man
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If the battery light came on before she turned off the car, and based on the subsequent failures to start from the jumps I think it's a safe bet that this is more than just a dead battery and the battery got flattened running the car while not being charged (which may well have killed it in the process) so I'd say you might be looking at dead alternator as well

Other than that it's worth checking both the fuses and the fusible links, they're the long orange bars in your fuse box and basically really big fuses (if one has gone the good news is that the fusible links aren't expensive, but the bad news is that they're a pain in the neck to remove and check - IIRC you pretty much need to take the whole fusebox assembly apart to do it), and it's worth checking the serpentine belt that drives the alternator too.

motosubatsu
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