'99 Protege LX (serious problems)
 

Ok so I recently bought my first car :D
but it died on me a few weeks ago!

Anyway, I bought a new alternator and installed it thinking that since my problem was electrical and the battery that came with the car was brand new, it would solve my problem. However it did not... My car died on me again.

It has about 150k miles on it, the battery light is on, the check engine light is on also. The car doesn't even try to turn over, but it would start if I charged the battery back up. I don't understand what is going on, is something draining my battery faster than my alternator can charge it?

Thanks in advance for any help given :)

Just because a battery is new does not mean it is holding a charge. The battery needs to be load tested to verify it is good. An alternator (while unlikely) can be bad right off the shelf. That is more likely with a reman. The battery cables need to be checked for corrosion at ALL points including the starter. There could be no problem with the charging system and a bad connection at the starter will stop the car from starting. I believe the voltage regulator in that model is built into the PCM (Someone please correct me if I am wrong). Minimally you should take it to an Autozone or Advanced auto parts for the charging and starting system test. They do this at no charge. Best case take it to a dealership and have them diagnose it. Most will do it for an hour labor and tell you what is wrong with the car.

I should add that there is something wrong with the starter. instead of fixing it the people who had it before me put a push button in and ran a red wire from the button to the positive connection terminal of the battery... Could this be the problem? Does orielys do free battery tests?

That would imply that there is something wrong with the ignition switch. We don't have o'reilly's around here but I would think that they do.

Do you think that the button is draining my battery somehow though? I don't have an auto parts store close to me, and my car doesn't start.

With an electrical issue anything is possible. It would be impossible for me to say that is the issue. The car should really be looked at.

Well thank you for giving me some advice :) I'll have to find someone close to me that knows what they're doing and doesn't mind coming to look at it I suppose. I can't drive it anywhere, and that really makes it a lot harder to fix this car.