Chevy Lumina Won't Hold A Charge- Battery And Alternator Replaced

Question:
Having a either battery / alternator problem. Battery/altenator were checked at local garage, and determined battery was dead. Replaced! Couple days later woke up to dead car, again. Charged for about 5 min. Started at once. Several hours later, dead again. H E L P! 1999 Lumina 3.1L V6.

Answer:
Thank you for your tip/donation. By what you are describing, it sounds like you may have something caller a 'parasitic draw'.

This is a current draw on the battery with everything off. That is assuming nothing has been left on by accident, like a dome light, or something plugged into the cigar lighter/power outlet. The way to diagnose condition is to have a technician hook volt / ohm meter, and with everything off, check for a draw on the battery. Most draws will drain a battery overnight, some more severe will take only a few hours. An older, weaker battery, will be grained quicker, and may not be able to be charged again.

A newer battery will recover just fine after a good charge. Some common areas on this vehicle to check would be the glove box light staying on, visor vanity mirror lights staying on, power door lock switch contacts sticking, trunk light staying on. These are some things that you can check if you like before taking it to a technician.

Question:
So my girlfriend and I bought the Chevrolet Lumina and it ran fine. 2 weeks later the battery died and needed to be jumped every day. So after changing the alternator and the tensioner that was broken it still wouldn't start without a jump. However, we jumped it today and noticed the engine rocks very hard and shakes and knocks.

It also stalls out when put into drive or reverse. We have pushed the gas pedal and it doesn't rev or even move. Then shortly after the car dies out. We also have white smoke coming from the exhaust pipe. Could it be the EGR valve? Or fuel injector? I'd really appreciate the help. Also if you have any ideas why the car won't start on it's own after replacing the failed alternator. 2001 Chevy Lumina. 3.4L V6. SES light. Replaced alternator and tensioner. But car still won't hold charge.

Answer:
If you ran the car off of just the battery while the alternator was inoperative, you most likely discharged the battery too much and it will not hold a charge now. You should replace the battery as well when you do an alternator replacement. That should handle the no start condition. But as for your other problems, it sounds like you have some major engine trouble.

If is not the EGR valve or a bad injector causing your issues, but most likely the car is misfiring due to coolant getting into the cylinders. When you have white smoke out the exhaust pipe, that indicates that coolant is being burned along with the fuel and air mixture.

The 3.4L engines are known to have intake gaskets that leak as well as head gasket problems. If it extremely severe, or was overheated badly, you could have a warped cylinder head or cracked head or block.