Can't tell if this is a starter, alternator, or battery problem

[housefish17]

n00b here

Anywho, a little backstory

I have an amp that I wired wrong, so it doesn't turn off with my car, so I put a light switch in the power cable (as opposed to rewiring it correctly), to easily turn the amp off when i turn the car off. Well every once in a while I forget, and my battery dies, and I jump it and it works just fine

THis happened again recently, except when I went to get my car jumped, it wouldn't start, so I went and bought a new battery, put it in, tried to jump it and it still wouldn't start.

The starter was making a clicking noise, so I disconnected the bottom wire on the starter (i think the ground wire), and my car started without a jump. I reconnect the wire, the car starts again, drive it to work, and when I try to start it again it won't start. It hasn't been able to start for several days, whenever i turn the ignition, it makes the same clicking noise, but I can always jump it to start it.

Is this a battery, or alternator, or starter issue, and if you could give me some ways to tell if it's either of those issues

Thanks

 

[patman]

take the baterry, alternator, and starter into o'reilly's auto parts they have electrical parts testors there, so you can get your stuff tested

 

[skoal_mint]

so it starts??

u had to boost a brand new battery?

start the car and check the output from the alt, then load test your battery.. check for battery amp drain too.

for amp drain, take off the negative battery cable and put one end on a multi-meter and the other end of the meter on the - batt post... i think anywas, i always use a machine instead....then shut off your amp, if their still drain keep pull some fuses, maybe you'll get lucky that way

 

[Mbrooks420]

If you have a multimeter I'd check the resistance on the battery wire to make sure they are corroded down inside the cables. I'd also wire the amp up correctly. A new battery will be short lived if it goes flat a few times. Do you not have a remote wire hooked up?