More car troubles

4-Cyl. Technical/Performance Discussions
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maldo
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Joined: December 11th, 2000, 2:01 am
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More car troubles

Post by maldo »

Not to worry too much, I hope, but the car died today. I am 99% sure <BR>that it has nothing to do with the rebuild. Here are the symptoms:<P>Since the rebuild, I added a few more grounds using 8 guage wire. I <BR>ran grounds to the block, MAF, alternator and tranny. Since that <BR>time, my battery charge light has been on periodically. I tightened <BR>the belt the other day, no real change. The car is a little rough <BR>trying to start but I have attribute that to the solid motor mounts <BR>causing much feedback from the twisting motor. Today I decided to <BR>trouble shoot, I removed the ground from the alternator as previous <BR>to the rebuild there never was one there. There ground is attached <BR>to the bolt that allows forward and aft movement of the alternator <BR>for tightening purposes. I removed it while the car was running... <BR>at the same time I was adding Water Wetter to the system. I <BR>proceeded to drive to Krista's house (about 3km away). Half way <BR>there, I lost all dash movement --no tach, no speedometer-- car ran <BR>fine still. Even nearer to her home, my S-AFC basically re-started <BR>itself (the same startup screen that appears when turning the car on, <BR>reappeared while driving.). I turned down her street and this is <BR>where things really started to act up. The car started bogging, as <BR>though it was either lacking spark or fuel. The EGTs did start to <BR>climb, car was in 2nd gear around 1500-2000rpm (no boost), hardly in <BR>the danger zone. The car limbed right in fron of Krista's place, I <BR>basically lost everything - power steering and brakes included. <BR>Tried to fire it back up, I was able to acheive a clicking noise <BR>which leads me to believe it is the battery. The charger is on it <BR>now so I will know soon. My other thought was the starter but the <BR>noise that I am hearing sounds like the solenoid is active, just <BR>lacking the power to spin. Any thoughts on the battery charge light? <BR>could be the alternator but I don't see how it goes from working <BR>before the rebuild to not working once things are going.
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monty73741
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Re: More car troubles

Post by monty73741 »

I HAD A SIMLIAR PROBLEM <BR>they found out a pulse sensor in the distributer was bad......and i needed a new one<BR>jason
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marshmallow15
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Re: More car troubles

Post by marshmallow15 »

man i feel your pain. i can feel my alternator starting to wear out and it sometimes kills my engine while at a stop.
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boostedmx
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Re: More car troubles

Post by boostedmx »

sounds like all those symptoms are from lack of power ---due to running the battery down. most likely needs an alternator. you should check the install of the alternator there may be something unhooked. another thing is that the alternator relies on a chassis ground to complete the circuit so it has to be a clean mounting surface. i hope this helps :D
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majicmike
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Re: More car troubles

Post by majicmike »

the battery needs to be insulated from the ground when removed from the car. if it sits on a metal shelf, tool box, or anything that could conduct electricity to the ground for more than a few hours, it will drain completlty. i always place the battery on a plastic shelf or a wood crate when i remove it from the engine.
boostedmx
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Re: More car troubles

Post by boostedmx »

that is the biggest untrue rumor of them all. the only thing that effects battery charge is temperature and current flow. the case is plastic on all batteries. this is a non conductive material, it's not possible to loose a charge through it. a battery can maintain a charge for years on a shelf and not go bad. the only way it would effect the battery is if the floor or whatever surface was cold as hell-- near freezing. and even then a couple hours isnt enough to drain a battery. <P><BR>i believed the same thing untill we had a rep. come in from interstate batteries to set us straight on some things, this being one of them.
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