My car keeps dying.
 

1990 Mistubishi Galant LS

Well my car has been running great until today. Nothing gradual or anything, just BAM.. started this.

So today I went to the store before work and as I was leaving I started my car and then it just died. The clock was re-set but it started right back up. Then after work I ran to Kohls and it did the same thing, but this time, it kept dying if I took my foot off the gas. The lights would dim as well, but brighten if my foot was on the gas. Basically, as long as I kept my foot on the gas, everything was normal. And every time it died it would start right back up, however it would die right away if I didn't IMMEDIATLY have my foot on the gas. Now every time it dies, the clock isn't being reset, but the check engine light comes on and so does the brake light.

Oh and as a side note... the check engine light had been on since I bought the car, so Steve tried to hook it up to the pocket logger but it wasn't showing a code so he turned it off. A day or so later it came back on. As soon as the car started dying it turned off while running but comes back on when the RPM's drop and it starts to die.

Any ideas? So far I've heard Alternator, TPS, and auto control motor. Please help!

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

Get your alternator and battery tested at Checker or Autozone.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

Alright will do. My dad also told me to put some fuel injector cleaner in it and drive it around a bit and see if it helps, so I'm going to do that and see if it makes any sort of difference. I'll report back when I'm done.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

id check those out first also.. sounds like it just has a bad battery

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

Thanks I'll have Nick do it!

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

I always recomend checking your main power and ground wires as well. They can corrode and have a similar effect to a bad alternator or battery. (road salt sucks)

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

Go to checker have them test the alternator and battery and they can also look up what the check engine light is coming up for. Ask them if they will do that or you can borrow the diagnostic tool with a downpayment and then get a refund, I have done this.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

Well thats interesting...

I took my dad's advice and added a bottle of Sea Foam Fuel Injector Cleaner and it runs like normal again. Actually I take that back. When I stop it will drop to 500 rpm's but then it brings them back up to normal. Very strange. My boyfriend thinks there's probably something a little more in depth than that but so far its running so I'm just going to leave it be for now since I can't afford to fix anything else, haha.

But in the process of fixing this problem, I also realized I have an oil leak some place. I was nearly out of oil.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

Actually their diagnostic tools don't work for my car, since its a '90. I think those only work for eith 92+ or 95+

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

If the clock reset, that means it lost power at some point in time. Get your battery and alternator checked out, clean your battery terminals, check alternator fuses and lil stuff like that..... If it all checks out, then your car could possibly be the anti-christ and I would perform an excorsism immediatley

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

I already tried pulling the codes, it didn't come up with any. Sounds like an alternator or alternator belt. I thought I replaced the battery, I can't remember.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

So you tried to pull the codes, when there was a check engine light, and nothing showed up? That's odd.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

Well... Last night the problem was fixed with a simple bottle of Sea Foam. After sitting all night I wonder how it will do. I'm about to go run some errands so I'll see how it does. If it's still acting up, I'll pull the battery and have it tested, but I'd rather not have to pull the alternator if I don't have to. But if the battery is good I will just have to pull the alt.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

I highly doubt that seafoam fixed the actual problem... Sounds like your battery terminals could be corroded and dirty if the radio reset. Its as if someone disconnected the battery all together. Then if you clean the terminals and you still have problems, look in the alternator.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

The alternator is tested right on your car as is the battery. Your lover should know this.

Sea-Foam did not fix your electrical problem.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

SeaFoam didn't do shit. As long as the car starts with ease every time, it's probably not the battery. bad terminals (loose or fucked up otherwise) are generally going to not allow a solid connection for start up every time. My money is on the Alternator. Something could be loose, and just tightend up enough to allow the car to run better. Chance are it could be related to the idle as well. Could be a combo to. But the fact is if you alt is going out every now and then, it's probably draining the shit out the battery to keep the car running.

roll up to Autozone, tell you lover to sit his ass in the car and take car of the shit yoruself. Walk in, flash some boobies, get it done promptly. You'll have 2-3 guys looking it over for ya. LOL Unless they are gay, then get the lover out the car and put him to work.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

Well it runs fine now? I don't know what the problem is/was but its not doing anything abnormal now. So until it fully breaks, I'm not fixing it, because I can't afford it. But I'll keep all this in mind.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

i'm gonna take a stab in the dark, but was it colder than usuall? like, at night or something?

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

No. I had already been driving it. My car heats up fast and stays warm for a long time even after I shut it off. I had only been at work for two hours before I came back and started it again.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

If your alternator isn't functioning properly and you're running off the battery at times you will kill the battery fast. Why waste the money on a new battery when testing is free?

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

Yeah no shit, getting your alternator and battery tested is free, no reason not to get it done. If your alternator is faulty, it will kill your battery real quick and cost you even more $$$.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

Well then I'll see if I can do it tomorrow. But that doesn't mean I'm going to immediately buy anything. That was pretty much my point, maybe I didn't make myself clear. But this month I get to buy school books and pay insurance which is pretty much going to total out to about $400. I for sure CAN'T afford anything else.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

I agree. With short trips you can run off the battery for a couple days. To me it sounds like your alternator is taking a shit. Car batteries are not meant to be charged and discharged multiple times. If your alternator is junk and you already had a close call your battery could fail too.

I would make sure your alternator is working under load, if Steve replaced the batt before you bought it I doubt it is the problem, although it is possible.

Your symptoms do not seem to be drivability related, they seem electrical and should be found out for sure before you are left stranded.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

Ok I'm sooo confused.

I took my car into Checker and had Nick look everything over. He checked the alt. and the battery. The battery was pretty much good, but he took it in and charged it up anyways, just to be sure. The alt. was good too. He also cleaned off the connectors and put some of that goopy looking shit [I not good with names] on there as well.

It hasn't been dying since the other day UNTIL we started testing shit and playing with shit today. I have no idea what the hell is going on with it. I know Nick made sure everything was tightened up and everything. I don't get it. Are there any sensors that would make it do this type of shit?

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

^^^If you don't know it. Just be like most woman and drive until it dies. Then said, I didn't know I needed to add some blinker fluids. j/k

Keep driving your car until the problem comes back. GL.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

Thats my point. It IS back. Its still fucking up.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

Maybe check the ground wires connected to the body of the car. Could be a loose connection there as well.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

Its probably whatever is throwing the engine code. There has to be a way of checking the code... not using a logger either. Use a regualr diagnostic reader.

Off topic- Oh and tauni.. by your books used off amazon. You can get them half price or lower. Thats how I do it. Then when your done, sell them back on there and you get over half you money back.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

The older cars you can't code read them. You might need to jump the some pins where steve hooked up the pocket logger to and count engine light flashes to get the codes.

When was the last time you did a tune up? Check the ignitor, rotor and cap..etc..

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

Thats what we are going for next. I hope its npthing but a bad ground.

Yes, but don't forget that when the car runs shitty, engine light is off. When it runs good, engine light is on.

Exactly and then you have to decifer what the damn flashes mean, and pray to god you counted all of them. With my luck I would have missed one.

I just bought the car a few months ago. I don't know exactly what all Steve did with it before he gave it to me.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

I drove it and it ran great. I don't remember doing anything to it. It's obviously something small, but finding that is the lame part. I'm chasing down something similar in two cars I have right now.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

Yah it runs great usually... every once and awhile it decides it hates life. And I mean, whether or not you did a tune up or anything. Its all good though! I'm not worried about it because so far it doesn't seem to be anything thats going to be super expensive to fix. I'm kind of thinking its just a ground or something.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

I had an almost identical problem when I first started driving my DSM.

First I thought loose terminals, so i wiggled them and it was fine for a week or so. Then it happened again, wiggled terminals again, and it was fine. So I cleaned the terminals and tightened them, fine again. Started fucking up again a week later, then became fine. Turned out that somewhere along the line the clamp that clamps the positive lead to the terminal itself was loose, and randomly not getting a good connection. Tightened it and it was fine forever.

Moral of the story? Its something free that got overlooked. Somethings loose along the lines of the starting system more than likely. Could be a ground, or it could be something on the positive side. I'm guessing it may be the same problem I had.

Re: My car keeps dying.
 

I had that same exact problem on my 2g a while back also. Forgot about that. There is a second "ring" inside of the positive terminal clamp that clamps on the battery terminal that can come out and there was corrosion in between that and the actual terminal clamp so it wasn't getting a good connection all the time. Maybe check out that because I had cleaned my terminal a bunch and it didn't help until I took the terminal apart and cleaned the insides up. Or I would just try new terminal clamps for the wires. Wal-Mart has some good ones for a couple bucks each.