Weird Symptoms- HELP!!

Blueraz_5.0

Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2021
Messages
143
Reaction score
41
Location
Houston
Ok, so this is a situation. 98 mustang gt, stick.
Background: I started daily driving this car two weeks ago, and since then, I've put nearly 3.5k miles on it. No issues at all until today. It had sat for 6 years with the previous owner. All original, all stock except what I mention here.: Within the past few months, while it was mostly sitting (taken around the block now and then), I've done: Fuel pump, intake manifold, and spark plugs all at 97k miles. 2 days before I started dailying it, I put in a new alternator. Its been perfect since. Until today. its at 100,500 miles as of the issues of today.

What happened: I had just taken it on a bit of a cruise, (highway cruising at about 70-80mph for about 80miles). Went through a drive through and parked to eat for a bit, turned off the car, had interior lights on for maybe 5mins or so, then turned them off. maybe 10 minutes later, turned the car into on mode (didn't start it yet) and rolled up the windows. Maybe 2 minutes later, went to start the car, and it just ground for a sec and didn't start. tried it one more time, and nothing. turned it all the way off, then back on and tried to start it and it was dead. no lights, nothing. asked a nearby Camaro for a jump, tried to jump it and the Camaro died. wouldn't start again. happened to try and start my car again, and it started up fine. No issues. We never did successfully jump my car, the cables weren't on for more than 30 secs before the Camaro died. It just fixed itself after being completely dead with no power whatsoever.

Symptoms: It sounded a little burbly while we were trying to fix the Camaro, but I figured it was the cold (still new to driving this thing, not sure of all the noises it makes yet), new almost buzzing rattle in the engine, almost sounds like a hissing/ticking combo?, went to drive it home, (never turned it off), and I'm severely lacking power. First had the acceleration of maybe fourth. sounded ok? I think? I can't tell if its missing, or just burbly from the cold. engine was warm by now after idling while we worked on the Camaro. But later, still on the way home, the acceleration picked up to almost normal, unless im on the gas hard. If im gentle with it, its fine, but if I try to pull, its weird still. If I ease onto the gas to maybe half throttle, it still doesn't pull as hard as it should. but it I slam onto the gas to half throttle, it pulls like it should. got home, tired turning it on and off again, all good. It has a slight idle drop though, it tends to idle at 750ish, but it would drop to 700-650ish for a sec then bounce up. never did that before. Tried starting it a few more times in my driveway, its fine now.

Any ideas? I'm completely stumped. (also as to why the Camaro killed itself? I don't know the guy and I killed his car, I feel terrible) I can't think of anything that could be going on with it.
Please help, this is my daily driver and I need it.
 

Daryl

Well-Known Member
SN95 Supporter
Joined
Apr 5, 2020
Messages
2,815
Reaction score
1,294
Location
SoCal
IAC? Starter? Battery? Like lwarrior said, I diagnostic tool throwing codes is ideal, but start going down the check list of the usual suspects and see if you can decipher it that way. IAC might just need cleaning; starter could be failing(mechanically or electrically); battery could be low on amperage(voltmeter will tell you that).
 

ttocs

Post Whore
Joined
Oct 9, 2009
Messages
32,383
Reaction score
5,557
Location
Evansville Indiana
It should not be the battery considering that it started up a little later with out needing to be jumped but it never hurts to start simple and pull it out and have it checked. To properly check it they need to put it on a charger and then test it when its done as well as 2-3 hours after it is removed.

While it is off, check your grounds. By check I mean remove, clean and then tighten them back down nice and tight I do not mean just look at and touch them.
 
OP
OP
Blueraz_5.0

Blueraz_5.0

Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2021
Messages
143
Reaction score
41
Location
Houston
in the end, this issue never came back, though im fairly sure it was my negative battery cable as its very corroded. I haven't replaced it yet but I will soon. Thanks for the help!
 

RAU03MACH

Legend
Joined
Apr 23, 2019
Messages
6,716
Reaction score
6,508
Location
NEW MEXICO
As far as the Camaro those are very sensitive
Ground on chassis , not the battery ground when jumping


Check your computer and harness probably got wet going through the drive through
 

RAU03MACH

Legend
Joined
Apr 23, 2019
Messages
6,716
Reaction score
6,508
Location
NEW MEXICO
That is another thing bad battery terminal

I had crazy one the battery terminal looked clean and was on tite
The cable good shape
Would not start , but if I touched the terminal it would start
Just crazy just enough corrosion to do that
 

ttocs

Post Whore
Joined
Oct 9, 2009
Messages
32,383
Reaction score
5,557
Location
Evansville Indiana
I know people on here just like in real life roll their eyes at me when I say to start by checking the grounds as I am a bit of a broken record, but its amazing how often they are the problem. I had a very similar problem on my truck when I was in my teen years where my ground on the battery was just not tight enough. You could just barely wiggle it a little back and forth but it was good enough at the time. Over the period of a week or two depending on the weather my starter would slow down till it would not crank to which I would get out, wiggle the terminal enough to get through the corrosion and then it would work for another week or two. It only needed a quarter turn to really be tight enough, that was the day I learned about grounds and corrosion.
 

Gregomatic

Active Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2021
Messages
250
Reaction score
114
Location
Heart of America/ KC,KS.
Man that sounds like me and my '72 Chevy Impala (first car) doing the wiggle wiggle start bi-weekly.

It didn't dawn on me until years after learning about mechanics that I had that Ford light bulb moment....
"Ahhh, THAT'S why my starter finally burned out!!"
*smack*

Low amps will kill your electronics part by part.
 

NEURON

Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2016
Messages
160
Reaction score
43
Location
SOCAL
I know people on here just like in real life roll their eyes at me when I say to start by checking the grounds as I am a bit of a broken record, but its amazing how often they are the problem. I had a very similar problem on my truck when I was in my teen years where my ground on the battery was just not tight enough. You could just barely wiggle it a little back and forth but it was good enough at the time. Over the period of a week or two depending on the weather my starter would slow down till it would not crank to which I would get out, wiggle the terminal enough to get through the corrosion and then it would work for another week or two. It only needed a quarter turn to really be tight enough, that was the day I learned about grounds and corrosion.
Same thing, I tightened down the nut and bolt and I was done I thought. Luckily my Dad showed me the trick of using a hack saw to cut away the lead so it would pinch tighter. A lot of men in the old days were shade tree mechanics, mostly to save money and hopefully get it done right(ish). I used to beg him to let me check the spark plugs on the Pontiac, anything to be around the car. I remember on a lot of different cars there was a ground strap from the back of the engine to the firewall that would break after a time(bad motor mounts sometimes) and drive you crazy by coming back into partial contact.
 

Adfalenski

Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2016
Messages
173
Reaction score
75
Location
Pasquotank county, NC
Check that the big battery wire on the alternator is Tight. Also both battery terminals. Any of these being loose will cause poor charging.
 

Katstang

New Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2021
Messages
53
Reaction score
6
Location
Christmas valley, Oregon
Ok, so this is a situation. 98 mustang gt, stick.
Background: I started daily driving this car two weeks ago, and since then, I've put nearly 3.5k miles on it. No issues at all until today. It had sat for 6 years with the previous owner. All original, all stock except what I mention here.: Within the past few months, while it was mostly sitting (taken around the block now and then), I've done: Fuel pump, intake manifold, and spark plugs all at 97k miles. 2 days before I started dailying it, I put in a new alternator. Its been perfect since. Until today. its at 100,500 miles as of the issues of today.

What happened: I had just taken it on a bit of a cruise, (highway cruising at about 70-80mph for about 80miles). Went through a drive through and parked to eat for a bit, turned off the car, had interior lights on for maybe 5mins or so, then turned them off. maybe 10 minutes later, turned the car into on mode (didn't start it yet) and rolled up the windows. Maybe 2 minutes later, went to start the car, and it just ground for a sec and didn't start. tried it one more time, and nothing. turned it all the way off, then back on and tried to start it and it was dead. no lights, nothing. asked a nearby Camaro for a jump, tried to jump it and the Camaro died. wouldn't start again. happened to try and start my car again, and it started up fine. No issues. We never did successfully jump my car, the cables weren't on for more than 30 secs before the Camaro died. It just fixed itself after being completely dead with no power whatsoever.

Symptoms: It sounded a little burbly while we were trying to fix the Camaro, but I figured it was the cold (still new to driving this thing, not sure of all the noises it makes yet), new almost buzzing rattle in the engine, almost sounds like a hissing/ticking combo?, went to drive it home, (never turned it off), and I'm severely lacking power. First had the acceleration of maybe fourth. sounded ok? I think? I can't tell if its missing, or just burbly from the cold. engine was warm by now after idling while we worked on the Camaro. But later, still on the way home, the acceleration picked up to almost normal, unless im on the gas hard. If im gentle with it, its fine, but if I try to pull, its weird still. If I ease onto the gas to maybe half throttle, it still doesn't pull as hard as it should. but it I slam onto the gas to half throttle, it pulls like it should. got home, tired turning it on and off again, all good. It has a slight idle drop though, it tends to idle at 750ish, but it would drop to 700-650ish for a sec then bounce up. never did that before. Tried starting it a few more times in my driveway, its fine now.

Any ideas? I'm completely stumped. (also as to why the Camaro killed itself? I don't know the guy and I killed his car, I feel terrible) I can't think of anything that could be going on with it.
Please help, this is my daily driver and I need it.
Car possessing deamon jumped from your car to his via cables?
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
77,435
Messages
1,502,106
Members
14,917
Latest member
virocanah

Members online

No members online now.
Top