Help! My car almost dies...

umcamara · Post by **umcamara** » September 18th, 2007, 9:45 pm

The original post says that the car is put into first and then the e-brake pulled. Not many things surprise me, but I've never seen somebody with an automatic transmission who puts the shifter into 1st (low) when they park.

She has explained what she's doing. Like I said, the only thing that pulling the ebrake could affect is the electrical system.

UNLESS......When she goes to pull the e-brake, at the same time she is pressing the brake pedal. I challenge somebody to dispute the fact that pressing the brake pedal with a somewhat weak charging system can cause engine speed to drop.

GS_Princess · Post by **GS_Princess** » September 21st, 2007, 9:05 pm

Haha, so Dali seems to be the only one that understood what I meant. I am talking about when I'm going to turn my car off. I park, put it in first while holding the clutch and the break, I pull up on th e-brake and then my car almost (or does) stall. And yes, I have a manual transmission, lol, not sure where the confusion about that happened. Who parks an automatic in first?!

GS_Princess · Post by **GS_Princess** » September 21st, 2007, 9:34 pm

Oops I'm sorry correction on my last reply...it was Tunes67 who understood me correctly. Just wanna give the right guy credit....

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » September 21st, 2007, 9:57 pm

give this a try Princess.. locate the fuse for the Daytime Running lights.. Pull the fuse.. then see if the behavior continues. If it doesnt stall or hesitate.. then the problem is in the DRL system (A stuck relay.. etc..) If it does stall or hesitate.. well we are back to square one

Now this fuse is a bit tricky to find.. I just looked it up in my manual here and you can find it in the engine bay near the firewall, inside a rubber boot covering wires that lead to a aluminum finned box. Hopefully that description will lead you to it. Another thing you can check.. when you pull up on your emergency brake.. do your headlights dim or go out? (They are supposed to go off)

Tunes67

umcamara · Post by **umcamara** » September 21st, 2007, 10:38 pm

umcamara wrote:Clearly she is parking her car with it in first gear (with the clutch held in), then pulling the e-brake, then shutting the car off. If she was doing it the way that you thought Dali, I don't think she'd be able to figure out how to get the letters onto the computer screen.

Not sure about the MX3, but many GM's and other vehicles have the e-brake wire tied into the daytime running light system. When you pull the e-brake, the running lights turn off. This is the only thing I can think of. As for what to do if this is the problem. I dunno...

I don't think there was much confusion, only Dali didn't seem to be on the same page as the rest of us.

umcamara · Post by **umcamara** » September 21st, 2007, 10:43 pm

Tunes67 wrote:give this a try Princess.. locate the fuse for the Daytime Running lights.. Pull the fuse.. then see if the behavior continues. If it doesnt stall or hesitate.. then the problem is in the DRL system (A stuck relay.. etc..) If it does stall or hesitate.. well we are back to square one Now this fuse is a bit tricky to find.. I just looked it up in my manual here and you can find it in the engine bay near the firewall, inside a rubber boot covering wires that lead to a aluminum finned box. Hopefully that description will lead you to it. Another thing you can check.. when you pull up on your emergency brake.. do your headlights dim or go out? (They are supposed to go off)

Tunes67

There is a daytime running light relay on the passenger side kickpanel, under the glovebox, you can hear it clicking when your running lights turn on. (When you turn off your headlights). The aluminum finned box that Tunes is talking about is on the driver's side of the engine bay at the firewall, right near the diagnostic connector box, which is towards the rear of the car from the strut tower.

Dali · Post by **Dali** » September 22nd, 2007, 3:46 am

lol, i may have not been on the same page but ive seen so many people park that way with both auto and manual trannies. i almost lost my car this way if the garage door didnt stop my friends mx3 from ramming it. the dtrl also link into the ecu as well if its not the module or relay but this does go threw a weird way and should not cause this problem. i cant remember how it goes in the system but it does spider into a few different spots. well good luck anyways, the other guys seem to be way more awake than i am when i come on here

GS_Princess · Post by **GS_Princess** » September 22nd, 2007, 9:17 am

All right thanks guys for all your suggestions...I will get my bf to try all the things you've suggested and I'll get back to you to see what works. Thanks again...I had no idea where to even start! I found it so weird that the e-brake would effect my rpm's... Oh and yes my headlights turn off when I pull my e-brake :]

MX-3.com

Help! My car almost dies...

Thank you Dali

Oops sorry

Thank You