Please Help...Vehicle no longer starting

[flastud904]

So here goes on a quick brief:
2001 Chevrolet Tahoe, 195000 miles (all highway), aftermarket accessories (inside/outside), maintenance well kept up

My initial problem was that my gas gauge started to act up, several weeks later, the battery guage goes below minimum, til today it just went all the way to the far left (no voltage), radio was cutting on/off... I was able to get the car back to the house, and all my guages went out on me.

I checked the fuses for the instrument panel (under the hood, and inside car), fuses looked good, cranked the vehicle up, and still the same issue on the panel....15 min later after talking to a mechanic friend, the car wont start at all, its just making a clicking noise now, so whatever initially started my issue with the guage or something else has completed killed my battery. dealership is talking about doing a diagnostic (amp, battery, starter) and fuel diagnostic, wiring check, the whole nine...

I'm trying to seriously avoid that trip to the dealership, but I need my vehicle back and working, its not only my daily car, its my Baby so if anyone can give me some suggestions, ideas, I will greatly appreciate it, I just want to know what could have went wrong....BTW sorry so long

 

[treepete]

thats got failing alternator written all over it. the car is running off the battery alone, and then dying on you. you should have the alternator checked by autozone ( or your store) and have them look at the battery as well.
the alternator is not charging your battery while the engine is running. so all the radio, heaters, sparkplugs, lights etc are all running of that poor battery. it slowly dies, and with it, certain functionalities of the truck as well. radio cuts out, lights dimming, etc.

I say its a relatively safe bet to grab an alternator from your parts store and slap it in there, charge your battery/get a jump and let it idle and see if it happens again./ chances are it wont.

 

[Sepiroth]

X2 on alternator failure

 

[flastud904]

Thanks guys, so with that said, is that also a reason for the instrument panel failing on me as well...if so should I have thought about that when the gas guage initially went out

 

[treepete]

Although it MAY be related, I think the fuel gauge is a seperate issue. Timed just right to make you THINK the problem is bigger than it really is.

 

[treepete]

if you happen to have a multi meter or volt meter, go take a reading of voltage across the battery. it should be about 12.5 when the truck is off.

 

[Rivieraracing]

Try charging up your battery with either a battery charger or jumper it to a running vehicle for a few till it gets up to around 11 - 12 volts (sitting unhooked), then when you know it is around 12 volts with the truck off, try starting the truck. If it starts and runs, check the voltage of the battery while it is running, if it stays the same voltage or even drops, then I would be looking at getting the alternator check. While running, a good alternator should keep a battery registering in the 13s - 14s voltwise.