Dying battery = bad morning

[Ludachris]

Man I love the electrical system in these cars...

On the way to work this morning, I noticed my radio cutting out (turning on and off). When I changed lanes soon after, my turn signal was weak. I noticed my gauges going a little crazy, so I shut off the headlights and turned off the radio which helped things. Luckily I was only a mile away from work. I parked the car, shut it off and it wouldn't restart.

This same thing happened to me a year ago on a weekend vacation. I replaced the alternator and the alternator relay at that point, and actually just put a brand new battery in about 2 months ago. This makes no sense to me. I have no idea what the root cause of this could be - what are the chances the alternator or relay went bad again so soon? Is there anything I'm not thinking of?

 

[Puckman]

People have gone through multiple alternators in a DAY. One of the biggest problems with dying alternators is the fact that there's flowing power steering fluids above it. I'd check for leaks in your power steering system that might be leaking and killing the alternator, and other than that try and get it warrantied.

 

[Enigma_Man]

I'd start simple first

Clean your terminals if you haven't already. I've had 1000% more problems related to battery terminals than anything else.

-Jesse

 

[BUCK]

Well Chris if you'd quit THUMPIN' that 3000 WATT Stereo...

& JACKIN those AIR SHOCKS...

& watching DVD's on your 30 inch PLASMA screen..

while running the MUTHA of all 12 Volt Server's...

- maybe these Alt's would hold up more than a year!

 

[Ludachris]

No power steering leaks, new terminals and good connections, no amplifiers or mobile electronics other than the factory stereo and some gauges/AFC-2. This makes no sense.

 

[98RedGs]

Personally it sounds like the alternator...
Take it off (if you can quickly) and run go get it tested.

 

[Ludachris]

Originally posted by 98RedGs
Personally it sounds like the alternator...
Take it off (if you can quickly) and run go get it tested.

Yeah, I know. I guess this was more of a rant. Everything points to the alternator, I'm just annoyed that I have to change it yet again. I'm just hoping I can get the battery charged enough to get me home so I can work on it in my garage instead of on the side of the road.

 

[Ludachris]

Originally posted by BUCK
Well Chris if you'd quit THUMPIN' that 3000 WATT Stereo...

& JACKIN those AIR SHOCKS...

& watching DVD's on your 30 inch PLASMA screen..

while running the MUTHA of all 12 Volt Server's...

- maybe these Alt's would hold up more than a year!

 

[Mike1992]

Positive battery terminal arcing on the hood? Do you have your factory tie down batery holder on?

 

[folkimploded]

On my '94 TSi I had a problem with my battery arcing to the hood, which caused my lights to dim and my radio to cut out, especially when the engine wasn't on or when I would be cruising down the street and would then apply the brake...as soon as the brake lights went on there wouldn't be enough power to go around so everything else would get very dim and the radio would cut out. I couldn't find much info on how to fix it online, so my cheap-o fix was to buy a rubber dishwashing rack from Ikea and cut it up to place over the battery. Seems fine now.

 

[Mike1992]

how about trying a shorter battery, maybe different battery terminals, ones without the wingnut, USE A REGULAR NUT. Use the battery tie down, its there for a reason

 

[FASTSPOOLINGST]

Chris,

What did the problem end up being with your battery situation