We have a 1999 VW Golf, that had a dead battery the day before yesterday and
required a jump. I put it on a charger all night and it still was dead in
the morning. The battery (Interstate) is 16 months old. We jumped the
battery & I put a Volt Meter on it and it read ~ 14.25 volts. We then took
it to the Interstate Store and they put their "Wizard" on it. It was
showing 12 volts with the car off.

They put in a new "loaner" battery, as their policy is to charge the
existing one to try to find out if it is the battery. Then they measured
the voltage with the car running with the new battery in and it was ~14.5
volts. I measured it with mine at home and it was 14.62 volts. The
technician said the old battery showed signs of venting...acid from the vent
on the battery case, and suggested that the alternator was possibly running
too much voltage and could have "cooked" the battery. Incidentally or
coincidentally, the right brake light bulb was burned out, something that
happened in the last two days or so. This car has had a history of weird
electrical problems.

The question is: is 14-5 - 14-6 Volts too high? My 2001 Jeep Wrangler
reads 14.23 volts running, measured across the battery terminals.

Thanks for any advice,

Campbell Freeman
South Carolina