Re: alternator or no alternator?????
At idle it would take forever to charge a deeply discharged battery. Although you have an alternator, it may not be charging. Start the engine, measure voltage at the battery at idle. It should be 12.6 volts give or take a tad. Raise idle speed to about 2000 RPM. Voltage should rise to 14 volts give or take a tad. If it doesn't, the charging system is not working. If you every ran the engine with the battery disconnected or intermittent battery cables, or switched off a battery switch with the engine running, chances are you fried the regulator or it may just have died. Run the voltage test. And lastly, how old is the battery. A battery with a bad cell or two will not charge fully and will not hold a charge. Have it load tested at any auto parts store.
