2001 Mitsubishi Diamante Alternetor

The battery needs to be good and fully charged BEFORE the new alternator is put to work. Test the battery this way and alternator this way, follow the links, and yes a reman alternator can be defective right out of the box!
https://www.2carpros.com/how_to/battery.htm
https://www.2carpros.com/how_to/how_to_test_alternator.htm

Car actually started this morning although i could tell battery was low. Chargin light is now NOT lit. Tested battery while car off 12.30v , while idling 14.20v

Do not have an AMP meter to test current.

Those numbers are OK. You might have an electrical draw, although if it starts some days and not other, it will be difficult to find, but here's what you need to do to find the draw:
https://www.2carpros.com/first_things/why_is_my_car_battery_dead_over_night.htm
Thanks for the point!

The only thing about this which is strange is that the battery did not appear drained when i left work...
it was dark and i saw no problem starting or with the lights, it was just as if all of a suddent the car was not charging at all, from the point where i noticed the charging light on, it took around 40 minutes with headlights on to finally drain the battery completely !

Then as i said this morning first thing there was just enough in the battery to satrt again and since then I've driven it about 6 miles and no sign of the charging light.

I'm fairly positive it will happen again of course and i'm runing out of AAA tows...

I'm wondering if it could it be a bad connection form the alterator to the battery somewhere ?

Could be, chec the "B" terminal to see if it's tight, be carefull, if you ground it accidentally, you could trip a fuse, or burn out a fuse link, remove negative battery cable first. Also check the Generator relay in the under hood fuse box. And the #8 Fuse in the same box on the driver's side inner fender.

Hi Mike,

thanks very much for the suggestions and diagrams they have been extremely helpful and your very timely input is much appreciated !!!

I'll check the relay right away.

All the Best
Con

Let us know how it goes...

I hate to even ask after all your help but other than trial and error I'm not sure which relay in the box is the generator relay !!!
the marking on the box is poor to say the least amd there are a bunch of relays in there, i've googled for over an hour and could not find a description of the relays only the fuses..

BTW charging light was on again when i started the car at work this evening, i had my meter and I measured just over 12 volts idling to validate that it was not charging..
I stopped, started the car once more, then on the third attempt the charging light went off..

I'm off to get a relay tomorrow if i can find one at the local parts store .

I'm not having any luck finding an ID chart either, but any Mits dealer can show you which one it is.