My car's electrical system...

eliyarbrough · Oct 11, 2007

I believe it's messed up! I really don't know what to type so I'm just going to type what I think about it. Two days ago I got in my car to head out and turning the key did nothing at all. I thought I left a light on or something! I got me jumped off and drove for 25ish miles top help charge it back up. I stopped then and when I got back in it to start it, same exact thing! It did not do anything. No chimes and stuff I mean. I then went to a mechanics and told him my battery was messing up. I thought at first it was my keyless entry thing. He checked the strength and told me to kill it. He checked it and he showed my battery was dead. He said it seemed to have a short or something. Also his battery charger thing would not begin to restart me. I had to have a full size Chevy pickup jump me off. I then took my battery to where I bought it from hoping to exchange it/OÃ¢â‚¬â„¢Reillys. They hooked it up to their tester and it showed fully charged! I put it back in my car and it has not messed up again!

A long time ago my battery was dead, I that time knew I left a dome light on! I charged it back up and went on. I was @ my bank and I was backing out of a spot and my car just died! I went and wiggled the battery cable and my car then fired right off. That is not normal, right? Is my whole electrical system screwed up or something?

Sorry this is so long! My brain will not allow me to summarize and stuff! I have to type it how it sounds in my messed up head. Thanks!!

Javi · Oct 12, 2007

few months ago something similar happened to me,the car will start and run for about 25 mins. then died,it sounds to me that you are going to have to spend about $180 yes a new alternator, i can be wrong tho but thats what i had to do tho and now runs fine.

just my 0.02

eliyarbrough · Oct 12, 2007

Since I bought the car on 8-3-03, I have replaced 2 alternators. I am thinking there has to be a real reason why my car's electrical system goes bad, quite often. I know nothing about anything though so it does not help. Maybe I need to buy one of those good alternators like I see in my 5.0 Mag? I just don't know! Thanks!!

916_5.0 · Oct 13, 2007

I had a problem with mine a while back were it would totally drain its self and nothing would turn on and it would die while i was driving it. I replaced the alt the battery and it did it again. It turned out that the cabl that ran to the alt and to the fuse box was messed up cause i made a new one and i have not had a problem since i did that about 6 months ago.

eliyarbrough · Oct 13, 2007

916_5.0, I'll show that to my mechanic! I have not even told him about my concerns! Thanks a lot!!

Downshift · Oct 13, 2007

And if your Alt is bad do yourself a favor and go and get one from Autozone that has a lifetime warranty to that if you keep frying them you dont keep spending over 100 dollars.

eliyarbrough · Oct 13, 2007

I bought one from O'Reillys. I like their electrical parts better. They have given me 2 or 3 so far.

Mr. OAM · Oct 13, 2007

"I know nothing about anything though so it does not help."

Here is the first problem. If you are going to be into cars you need to know something about them. Read tech articles in car magazines (how I got a majority of my automotive knowledge) and also read the repair manuals about the problems you are having. They usually have a flow chart of how to go about diagnosing the problem.

Get a volt/ohm meter. You can get a cheap one that will do the job for $15. At minimum you need to be able to use a volt meter so that you can "see" into your electrical system. If you have one and put it on the battery terminals while the engine is running you can see how many volts are going to the battery at idle. Then rev the engine to about 1,500 and 2,000 RPM and take another reading to see what your voltage to the battery is while you are driving around. This is not rocket science and is very easy to do. This will let you know if your alternator is charging the battery rather than spending money and time doing something that will not fix the problem.

Were the battery terminals corroded or loose?

Your battery cannot be tested to see if it is still good or not while it is discharged. It needs to be put on a trickle charger and charged back to full before it can be load tested (load tester can be bought for $30 for cheap one) in order to know if the battery is bad or not. If a shop tests your discharged battery to diagnose if it is good or not this means one of two things.......they are just after your money or two, they haven't got a clue what they are doing.

So first, while your car is running check the voltage going to the battery. Vary the RPM's and jiggle the cables. If this voltage is good and the battery is charged then load test it. You will know in 10 seconds if it is good, weak, or trash.

To start blindly making changes and buying new parts that may not need replacing is to spend money I don't have, I don't know about you. Instead spend some money on a volt/ohm meter and a battery load tester (which will usually also test charging systems) for $45 plus tax all together and you will save hundreds of dollars down the road. Read tech articles and repair manuals and then practice on as many cars as you can.

People that can fix cars can do so because they test them and find where the problem is. Pot-shotting the problem by randomly replacing parts is like playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Don't be afraid to try this. The only thing that makes it such a mystery is that you haven't looked into how to do it yet. Once you do you will be surprised how simple it can be.

Steve

916_5.0 · Oct 14, 2007

Yeah i would check it out cause i replaced the alt and battery and the next day my battery was drained again. But as soon as i made a new wire to run from the alt to the fuse box it was all good. One thing though i could not find one place that sold the cable for our cars so i made make sure if you make one to keep the other wire that runs with the cable it has a little plastic clip that clips into the alt on one end so reuse that. I can post pics if you want.

eliyarbrough · Oct 14, 2007

Mr. OAM, 1st of all I'm not to make excuses for myself! My first problem is my traumatic brain injury though!!! If I read something there is a 97% chance is already left me. I hate using that excuse, but I really have to! I have had this for 5 years and it I not something you can just 'fix'!!! From what I read about they have not performed a brain transplant surgery. Not that I would if I even could though! Thanks for trying to help me though! I just print off what is typed and take it to my mechanics. See ya!!

916_5.0 · Oct 15, 2007

Also now that i think about it i replaced the ground that runs to the engine block cause the wire was exposed a little bit in one place and i thought it might have been touching my frame so i replaced that too. I would check all of your grounds just to make sure.

Mr. OAM · Oct 15, 2007

1STOF3 said:
Mr. OAM, 1st of all I'm not to make excuses for myself! My first problem is my traumatic brain injury though!!! If I read something there is a 97% chance is already left me. I hate using that excuse, but I really have to! I have had this for 5 years and it I not something you can just 'fix'!!! From what I read about they have not performed a brain transplant surgery. Not that I would if I even could though! Thanks for trying to help me though! I just print off what is typed and take it to my mechanics. See ya!!

Not digging on ya 1STOF3. It just comes down to if you want to find out what is wrong with your car you need a voltmeter. Checking these things yourself will save you money. I am confident you can do it.

Whatever injury you had, to your credit, you seem to do pretty well in spite of it. O0

Steve