I began to experience some electrical loss today. I admit I do not know much about the electrical system, so please don't roll your eyes too much. I'm sure it is a simple answer for most of you.
Anyway, when I turned on my car this morning, the Brake and ABS lights stayed on. I turned the car off, restarted it and they went out as usuall. While driving, I turned on the Defrost (it was set to high at the time) and all my gauges and the radio died for a second, then came back. I tried that again several times and each time the gauges died. I then tried it with the defrost set to medium, and everything was fine. I stopped at the store to get nacho stuff, and when I tried to start my car, nothing happened. It did not even try to start. No click, no nothing, but the lights and radio worked fine.
After trying this a few times, the car started. After getting home and turning the car off, I tried to restart it. Nothing for about five minutes, then it started and I had the Brake and ABS lights again.
So, yeah. I'm clueless. Please give me an idea or two of what the problem may be. (Speak to me like I'm an idiot if you need to, but please don't smack me with anything...I bruise like a peach.)
Virgil
This sounds like it can be two things
The first thing I'd check is my positive and negative cable battery connections.
I had a car in the shop a few days ago that had symptoms sort of like yours, turns out the negative battery cable wasnt connected tightly.
Secondly this may be an alternator issue, the reason when you turn on your defrost, and everything goes off, the charging system may not be operating correctly.
Autozone test batteries, alternator, but if you go there and have it tested make sure they dont full field the alternator.
Also when the laternator begins to die, the ABS light normally comes on, because the ABS control module doesnt have 12V at it, this causes it not to work correctly, or at all.
good luck
- 2004 Cavalier - 124k, owned since new
Alternator....Dang. I was hoping someone would say: "Check such-and-such fuse dumb-ass."
I checked the cables and they are tight, so I guess it's off to check the alternator.
Thanks for the quick answer.
Check such and such fuse dumb-ass
Autozone and Advanced Auto parts will check your charging system for free.
Lanman31337 - Cavfire wrote:Check such and such fuse dumb-ass Autozone and Advanced Auto parts will check your charging system for free.
lol
my car is doing the exact same thing! i get those lights coming on, and when i mess with the windows or high beams my radio turns off and the cluster resets
when im going 80+ MPH everything works perfectly
i got the alternator checked at advanced auto and they said that it was ok ???????
i hooked up my friends radar detector and it read 14v - 10v and was giving me warnings of low voltage
?????????????????? any ideas?
|Forged 8.9:1 Wiseco Pistons|Forged Eagle Rods|HPTuners|60trim|Tial Wastegate|
|Precision Intercooler|2.5" Exhaust|2.5" Charge Pipes|630CC Mototron Injectors|
|Stock: Fuel Pump, Transmission, Manifold, TB, Head, Head Gasket, Ignition, Suspension...|
p.s. whats a full field test and why is it bad? when they tested my alternator they just hooked up to the battery and saw it went from 12v to 14v after i started my car
|Forged 8.9:1 Wiseco Pistons|Forged Eagle Rods|HPTuners|60trim|Tial Wastegate|
|Precision Intercooler|2.5" Exhaust|2.5" Charge Pipes|630CC Mototron Injectors|
|Stock: Fuel Pump, Transmission, Manifold, TB, Head, Head Gasket, Ignition, Suspension...|
Sounds like it could be just a simple problem with the battery connections as suggested above. Disconnect your battery cables, clean the connections and reconnect. Easy and no cost to try first before assuming an alternator problem.
ima try that real quick and post back up in a few!
|Forged 8.9:1 Wiseco Pistons|Forged Eagle Rods|HPTuners|60trim|Tial Wastegate|
|Precision Intercooler|2.5" Exhaust|2.5" Charge Pipes|630CC Mototron Injectors|
|Stock: Fuel Pump, Transmission, Manifold, TB, Head, Head Gasket, Ignition, Suspension...|
put in brand new battery connectors and tightened everything securely and the problem still exists. Im going back to autozone because they supposedly they tested it wrong last time.
|Forged 8.9:1 Wiseco Pistons|Forged Eagle Rods|HPTuners|60trim|Tial Wastegate|
|Precision Intercooler|2.5" Exhaust|2.5" Charge Pipes|630CC Mototron Injectors|
|Stock: Fuel Pump, Transmission, Manifold, TB, Head, Head Gasket, Ignition, Suspension...|
Virgil Breshears wrote:
I checked the cables and they are tight, .
Virgil
I am sure Rob S intended you to disconnect the cables, battery negative first, check both ends of both cables are "shiny clean and then reconnect it all, Negative battery terminal last.
Cables can be tight but if the contacting surfaces are not clean you still end up with a high resistance path and this can be enough to prevent the charging system operating correctly.
Alont
Had a few computer problems, so I was not able to hang my head in embarassment at the time.
It was a bad cable. I had the alternator checked and the guy said "Alternator's fine. You want me to replace this cable with a coat hanger? You'll get more power."
Part of the cable looked like it had been chewed on by a power hungry rat.
New cable, cars fine, I'm a dork.
Morale of the story: When something goes wrong, inspect the obvious.
Thanks for posting the solution, always helps others
Alont
