Can I Drive with my Battery or Alternator Light On?

One of the questions we were asked recently is “Can I drive with my battery or alternator light on” Well we’re going to try to answer that question for you today. Welcome to Mercie J auto care where compassion and craftsmanship come together. My name is Rick Smith and I am a master certified technician. When that light is on, it basically means the battery is not getting charged. Normally when the car is running, we’re actually running the car on the charging system which is the alternator. So when that light comes on, it means it’s not charging. The short answer is yes, you can drive it. But you can’t drive it too long because eventually the battery will go dead and then the car will stall and you’ll be stranded. So, the first thing you want to do is turn off as many accessories as possible. If it’s during the day, you can turn off your daytime running lights, turn off your radio, turn off the air conditioning, turn off the fan and don’t run any electronics. That will help the battery be able to run the car as long as possible. Then as soon as you can, get somewhere because it’s probably not going to restart for you because the battery be low by the time you arrive at your destination. So short answer yes you can drive it long answer is no not very far. If that light is on, just make sure all the rest of your gauges look OK as well. So I hope this is an informational to you watching until next time safe travels and blessings to you.