I was having problems with the starter and finally replaced it with a new one about five days ago. Once the starter was replaced, the van ran fine, started pretty quickly and everything seemed fine. I have been driving the van since then and suddenly last night, tried to start the van and it just clicked like the battery was dead.

I tried to jump the battery thinking one of us had left a light on or something but could not get the starter to engage. I took the starter back to Pep Boys. They tested it and it worked 2 out of 3 times and on the 3rd time the computer said it failed so they replaced it. Went back home and changed it out. When I jumped the battery, it started up fine.

Since I thought the battery might have been low, I decided to let it run for approximately 20-25 minutes to charge the battery while I went inside to clean up. The car stayed running for most of the time but when I came back out a second time after about 25 minutes, i noticed the van stalled. Since I was not outside when the van stalled, I do not know whether it sputtered or just stalled. I also do not know if the lights inside went dim before hand or if anything gave a warning like the radio shutting off.

Now, I cannot get the van started with a jump and I was thinking it could have been the alternator dying out and the car stalled when the battery finally lost all its juice. I'm wondering what would cause it to stall and not start back up even when connected to a running car with a good battery. Did the drop in voltage affect a sensor or something or should I be looking at possibly an electrical problem. If I could get the car started, I could at least check the alternator current with a multimeter or disconnect the battery cables while the car was running to check the alternator but I cannot even get it to start. Please help!

 

I would start by checking the battery voltage (with a multimeter) and all fuses. If the battery voltage is ok, and the fuses are all good, then it might be a broken relay.

However, I also read this: "I decided to let it run for approximately 20-25 minutes to charge the battery while I went inside to clean up".

I take it that you removed the jump cables? Which is good, but that means that your cars alternator had to charge the battery – which probably is still ok – but 25 minutes is not long enough to charge a (completely) drained battery so like I said... check the battery first