2001 PT Cruiser won't start, no power

[texasrng]

My girlfriend has a 2001 that won't start and there is no power to anything.
A little history:
About a week ago it wouldn't start and needed to be jumped. It started right up after and then while driving all of the gauges bounced full cycle twice and the indicator lights came on and the car died. It restarted fine and had no more problems for the next few days. After the gauges and indicators did the same thing, she took it to Advance Auto to have the battery and charging system checked, they said the battery needed to be replaced. It ran great for the next two days and then died completely at a stop sign today and would not start again. Not only won't it start, there is no power to anything, no dash lights, no headlights, no horn. When we tried to jump start it, the cars started then died immediately when the jumper cables were removed.
I have some experience working on cars and thought there might be a short that drained the battery, a bad ground connection, or a blown fuse or relay. I checked the battery with a voltage meter and got 12.6 volts. I checked the ground by testing resistance and continuity between the negative terminal and the chassis and the ground is good. I checked the power distribution center and got 12.6 volts there too. All of the fuses and relays are good too.
I'm drawing a blank on what else to check. Hopefully someone here can help me out.

Richard

[Dino]

Originally Posted by texasrng

My girlfriend has a 2001 that won't start and there is no power to anything.
A little history:
About a week ago it wouldn't start and needed to be jumped. It started right up after and then while driving all of the gauges bounced full cycle twice and the indicator lights came on and the car died. It restarted fine and had no more problems for the next few days. After the gauges and indicators did the same thing, she took it to Advance Auto to have the battery and charging system checked, they said the battery needed to be replaced. It ran great for the next two days and then died completely at a stop sign today and would not start again. Not only won't it start, there is no power to anything, no dash lights, no headlights, no horn. When we tried to jump start it, the cars started then died immediately when the jumper cables were removed.
I have some experience working on cars and thought there might be a short that drained the battery, a bad ground connection, or a blown fuse or relay. I checked the battery with a voltage meter and got 12.6 volts. I checked the ground by testing resistance and continuity between the negative terminal and the chassis and the ground is good. I checked the power distribution center and got 12.6 volts there too. All of the fuses and relays are good too.
I'm drawing a blank on what else to check. Hopefully someone here can help me out.

Richard

Sounds like your alternator is bad, and your new battery lasted until it died from not getting a good charge.

[BeagleDad]

quick way to check alternator if u can keep it running is to start it up and remove neg battery clip if it continues to run its not the alternator