Ok I got greater problems now Options

[Random_Stranger]

I have to put my hood issue on hold at the moment, as funds are very very limited right now. I have greater issues... Ok, the car has power, but as I was about to drive it last night (and it started fine) i noticed that one of my headlights was working. The other flickered once, or would not come on, while one worked fine, until I flicked on the foglights, and then it would flicker. I parked the car, and now it won't start. There is no clicking noise at all, and the battery with the multimeter showed 10.29 on a red optima. There seems to be no dimming of lights, and I am wondering if it might be the starter.

[RabidTRD]

One way you can check if its your alternator, is when you get your battery back charged, hook it up, start the car, then detach your negative cable on your battery....if your car still runs, its your battery thats shot, if it dies....your alternator is shot....
( this method is not usually reconmended ) however, i have used it many of times, throughout the life of my vehicles Celica GT included, and never had an issue

Do NOT do this! That is not a solid way of finding out the status of your ALT. It can also destroy the alt by sending a voltage spike. You can also fry the ECU that way.

do not disconnect the alternator from a running car, if the alt isn't already bad that can kill it and even damage other electronics in the car. It sounds more like you have a bad or very weak ground somewhere.

What he said!

Take it to a shop with a tester like AAA has. You can't measure a battery solely on the volts. You have to know what the cranking amps are at. Your battery can be 12v and 100 CCA and not start the car. Also, just because your electronics work doesn't mean the battery can start the car. The electronics take much less power than the starter motor to do anything and they'll show full usage up until the battery is down to 0CCA and 9V.

What I would say to do is to get the battery fully charged on a trickle charger (Spiral cell batteries don't like 40A fast charges... trust me), re-install it and have a shop with a real tester, test the system. Or take the alt out and the starter out and have them bench tested. It's super easy to do. The alt has 3 bolts, a plug and a nut. 14MM, 10MM and you've got it out. The alt is 12MM two bolts and a nut and solenoid plug. I've changed both in a parking lot in 20 mins before. Easiest charging system to deal with.

Just my .02