I am supposed to be leaving on a cross country trip tomorrow morning (driving) and I came across a problem with both of my cars.

The mustang won't start. After a jump it dies after like 30 seconds of no connection to the other car. I am assuming it MUST be the alternator. Alternator was never replaced and it has 55k. Also, wouldn't the MIL come on before it would die? It never did. On my old crown victoria it was on for like 10k miles before the alt finally went out. I don't want to replace the battery if it is the alternator and then start my trip and have the car die 350 miles from my house. The only things that work in the mustang are the interior light and the theft button. If I try anything else they all go off. Headlights cause the car to die once its running.
Earlier the car was taking longer to start than normal. Normally it would turn over instantly, earlier it would take a few seconds. Also, when the car won't start I hear a weird noise for a few seconds from somewhere under the hood. Could a bad starter drain a battery?

Other car, when braking at slow speeds (10mph and less), the brakes pump themselves. No ABS light comes on so I am not sure what that is. Any idea?

I can't believe this is happening.

 

What do you mean by the brakes pump themselves? Describe it a bit more please. And yeah sounds like an alternator issue, take it and your battery up to autozone to be tested to be sure.

 

I cant drive the car anywhere since it won't stay alive on its own for 30 seconds.

 

at least the alternator is in a great spot. It sucks pulling the half axel out of a honda just to get the damn thing out.

 

Buy a new battery install it. Start the car. let it idle for a while to see if it dies. If it does then its not the battery and return the battery to the store for a refund? ( do they do return on batteries?) That would be one easy way to diagnose if the store let you do a return on a battery...

 

Only thing i could say is take the alt and batt off, and get a buddy to drive you there. Describe the brakes please.

 

Way too much work. Better to just take the alternator and battery to autozone for testing. Another good thing to buy would be a multimeter. A good running alternator will read 13-14 volts.

 

More than likely it is the alternator that is bad. When mine went out the CEL did not come on, take the alternator off and go get it tested.

 

With the brakes you mean, as your press them they push your feet back at you and back and forth and back and forth and so on?

 

Not really krenogin. They just pulsate I guess. It doesn't move my foot back at all. It just pulsates till I come to a stop.

 

warped rotor? Does the steering wheel shake a bit while you're braking?

EDIT: And I'm pretty certain that you're alternator is blowed slap up. Stick the battery on a charger and start charging it. Eliminate that from the equation. Take your alternator down and grab nuther'. 10 minutes to install an alternator rocks.

 

I somewhat agree with this resolution.

Actually I have a 03 lincoln Aviator and when I braked, the pedal would Pulse. I took it to the shop and it turned out that the WHEEL HUB was loose. So at any poiint my wheel could have came loose if I waited any longer to check it out my tech said..lol

 

drive it into a post, and pick a new 5.0

 

Just got back from my trip. We took the eclipse turbo. The car did fine for all 6k miles!

Oh and it is the alternator on the mustang. Making good use of my warranty today! I'm going to check the eclipse brakes today when I give it an oil change.