ok so i have a stupid problem. the other day my starter went out. no biggie just replaced it along with a new ground cable for my battery. it was getting bad and was in a bad spot, so i figured hey why not it cant hurt. well now i have some weird crap going on i cant explain....
1. car starts up fine and everything electrical works as it should. but as soon as i put it in drive all my cluster lights (abs, airbag all of em) come on. and as soon as you start driving all my electrical stuff starts working slow, and my headlights are pretty weak. almost like my batterys dead. but i got it "tested" and it passed. and its fully charged.
2. now that im driving only my speedo and fuel gauge work as well as my odometer. but when i let off the gas, my tach and coolant temp gauge starts working. and it continues this until i shut the car off or get back on the gas. and the tach keeps working for 10 seconds. it works in spurts though, not in a smooth way at all. then it drops down to zero as does my coolant gauge. then........
3. as soon as i shut it off my cooling fan stays on. and i have to pull the fuse to shut it off. and it stays off after i put the fuse back in. and the fan does not come on when i first turn the key, as if it were wired straight to the battery.
4. this leads me to think i have a bad ground somewhere. when i pull it into gear my subs burp. or when i turn on my lights or try to use my cruise they do the same thing. now this only happens occasionally. i checked the grounds for my amps and they are fine. as well as my head unit. all the wiring is perfect the way it should be.
im gonna start looking for bad grounds 2marrow, but if anyone has any suggestion my ears are wide open. thank in advance
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You probably have a bad alternator.
Agreed. I had a friend with a similar issue. The alt is easy enough to take off and get tested. I recommend that as a next step, other than checking grounds/wiring.
yeah i was kinda thinking that to but i wasnt all that sure. but i did find a bad ground, fixed it and it did nothing. glad i got a spare sitting around. thanx guys apprecitae it
I think you'll find when you pull the relay for the fan you have to tap it gently until you hear it click otherwise the fan will not shut off when you put it back in.
(99 - Sunfire - Red - 2200)(95 - Cavalier z24 - Purple - 2.3 quad four)
This is a symptom of bad grounds. Use a DMM and measure while the car is running:
1. From the battery + to the engine block
2. From the battery + to the body
I bet you get two very different numbers.
2002 Cavalier 2200 5spd
so yeah lol.......... changed the alternator on it. didnt make a difference what so ever. but i got the old alternator tested just to make 100% sure, and it was perfectly fine. but ive been playing around with it and heres what i found last nite..........
if i rock the car everything resets, if i unplug the abs sensor everything resets lol. its almost like its tripping a relay or something. i cant find a thing. any help on what direction to go next is really appreciated
check your wires going to the starter. are all the wires going to the correct side of the silinoid? you may have a broken wire and it may be grounding out some where
well if that were the case (starter) wouldnt that affect it from starting? cuz it starts up just fine. the thing thats stumping me is it doesnt come from one particular thing consistently. its not only if the car hits a bump or anything like that. its so random and inconsistent im lost as to what is the cause of the problem
