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First, I'm not a mechanic, my information is accurate so far as I know but I could be wrong.

I will assume you realize that these two devices (alternator & starter) are not dependent on each other. I do not think the alternator needs to be good for the starter to work. If your battery has sufficient charge, then a starter motor in working order will function even with a bad alternator.

To see if the starter is working, I believe, at least on older cars, you can hard wire the battery directly to the starter motor to see if it will crank over the engine (make sure the car is not already running).

To see if the alternator is working, with the car running, check the voltage. Then run the car for a while with electrical components on (Lights, Radio, Fan, etc.) Then turn the electrical components off and check the battery voltage again. If the voltage has not gone down, your alternator should be working well enough to keep your battery charged. If the voltage has gone down, it should start going up as the alternator charges the battery up to it's designated voltage. (usually about 12v for most cars).

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Q: How do know if the starter is bad versus the alternator?
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