My daughter stopped by tonight with her 2002 PT Cruiser. She later left our house for the three mile drive home. Half way there the car sputtered and died with NO SIGN OF THE ALTERNATOR LIGHT on the dash. Tried to jump start it and the battery would not take a charge.

Is it the battery (four years old) or the alternator?

Any help is appreciated.

Pull the battery and have it tested at the local parts store. I would guess the battery becuse 4 years is a good life in a PT. Do the headlights come on? If not it's a good sign the battery is dead.

Probably both by now. Alternator gets weak and eventually drains the battery totally. I wouldn't trust a 4 yr old battery even after swapping the alternator. Have them both tested but it's strange she didn't get an alt light come on at the end.

It was the battery. Replaced it and then checked the alternator and it was pushing a little over 14 volts. I do think that there was more to the story than I originall heard as my daughter's boyfriend stopped to put in a couple of gallons of gas. Although she won't admit it, I think she ran it out of gas and then wore the battery down cranking it.

All is good, though. Four years is long enough. It was time she had a new battery.

Thanks to all for your response.