My car keeps dying.

[Kracka]

Originally Posted by xveganxcowboyx

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?

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 $$$.

[Tauni]

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.

[tim]

Originally Posted by xveganxcowboyx

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?

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.

[Tauni]

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?

[SLOW_V]

^^^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.

[Tauni]

Originally Posted by SLOW_V

^^^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.

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

[mdost03]

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

[A//// Guy]

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.

[SLOW_V]

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..

[Tauni]

Originally Posted by totaleclipse_05

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

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

Originally Posted by M/// Guy

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.

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

Originally Posted by SLOW_V

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..

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.

[Goat Blower]

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.

[Tauni]

Originally Posted by Goat Blower

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.

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.

[dumb_ricer]

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.

[mdost03]

Originally Posted by dumb_ricer

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.

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.