(insert stream of cursewords here) Problems with stuttering and other such nonesence.

[LiquidOC]

ok, was driving home from autozone after getting a powersteering pump price (figured i'd drive and check out a few things while i was there too) but that's not my problem here. (at least, i don't think so) So, i started up my car this morning, and i get a REALLY loud squeal coming from the engine bay. Open it up, and I find that it's the powersteering pump (or it's coming from that exact location) figure it's ok, i can drive without powersteering if it fails. Took it to school, ran great once she warmed up, no more squealing. I parked it, and went to class, got out of school, went to start up my car, started fine, no squealing. Said to myself "OK, she's good to go after she gets a new power steering pump then." Put her in reverse and backed out, turning slightly to the left as I did. Get back far enough and put her into first, turning the wheel to the right was hard, and she bucked a little when I gave her gas (got a different brand of gas, mobil 1 93 or something like that). Drove home, no problems. Decided I should go to Autozone to pick up a few things and get the price on my powersteering pump. Got out there fine, got the price ($179 with core return of $60) put items in back seat and started her up, jumped on the highway, and my radio starting completely shutting off randomly. So I turn off the radio. Think to myself "maybe the battery's just low since i ran it without any belts on for a bit" no biggie. Got about halfway home, and the anti lock brake light kicked on. "that's odd" windshield wipers start going REALLY slow. Pulled into Giant parking lot to see if maybe the belts that i had just replaced had decided to skip off my alternator or something. She was idling wierdly at the stoplight (idle surging, from like, 1200 RPM's to around 2000) pulled into parking lot and came to a stop, popped the hood and left her running to see if anything was smoking or whatever. popped the hood, belts looked fine, the ones that i had replaced were still taught and all, and the powersteering pump belt was still taught as well. Decided to just turn her off and turn her back on to get rid of the ABS light (it worked for my cavalier) Turned off the car, and tried to turn it back on, sounded like the starter was trying to turn but was getting seized up. Decided to call my mom and get a jump or something (thought maybe the battery and the alternator were dead). I got a busy signal and kept trying to call her. I finally got a hold of her, and she told me to try one more time, the car started up. (damnit, and she ran great, for a while anyways.) took it real easy out of the parking lot and stopped at the light. the ABS light came on again and she started idle surging again. Decided to just limp her home the three miles. On those three miles, i noticed a few other things: the SRS light came on, as well as whenever i had to come to a stop, the tach would drop down to 0 and jump all around. (THATS ####ING WIERD i say to myself) i had no lights on at all, and my windshield wipers were only turned on when absolutely necessary, and they were still going slow. Got her home ok, but noticed that she stuttered a bit if i tried to give too much gas before the turbo reached full boost or the engine reached roughly 3000 RPMs. Jumped on here once i got home, and noticed that another kid ( http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=114414 ) was having kinda the same problem, minus the throttle part. suggestion was to check the grounds from the battery, i checked them and the one that is the shortest to the frame is fine, and there is a lot of corrosion on my battery terminals, i'm gonna clean them and see if that does anything, but i couldn't follow the other ground far enough to determine if it was broken or not attached. Thanks for reading the very long post. ALSO: there was a wierd clicking coming from the passenger side of the dash when i was stopped at the giant and the key was turned to the point where one more click would have been to start it.

Thanks for reading all of this, and i hope that this is a simple problem

 

[crankbender]

2 things stick out here.

turning the wheel to the right was hard,

This is probably the pump doing something and bogging down. Your problem might be as simple as you don't have enough fluid and the pump is binding. Additionally a low fluid level or failing pump can put additional load on the system and cause the engine to bog or the belts to squeel.

secondly is the running part. Really can't answer anything here till you rule out the alternator. If you are having a power steering problem it is likely that you got fluid in the alternator and it has gone bad.

One last answer could be that your crank pully (harmonic balancer) is failing.

Just some things to look for.

 

[LiquidOC]

i just replaced the harmonic balancer yesterday, the pulley on the alternator spun freely, but i could always pull it and get it tested at autozone next day i have off. i'm gonna go check the power steering fluid level now and get back to you.

 

[LiquidOC]

checked the level on the power steering fluid and it was low. i happened to have a few bottles laying around and filled it up, got in the car and it started right up. idled fine, nothing looked wierd in the engine, revved it a bit and she purred like a kitten. pulled out of the driveway to take it for a little ride and she pulled out fine, i took her about a quarter of a mile and then it started happening again, without the idle surge and without the tach falling like it was going out of style. ABS light came on again and i turned around to come home and report my findings to you.

EDIT: but now i gotta go to work and i wont' be back for a while, any help that you guys hand out is appreciated.

 

[crankbender]

Check the battery voltage with the car on and off, fix those corroded connections, and recheck that fluid. Ps systems self bleed and the fluid can go down more.

If ya just replaced the harmonic balancer are ya sure you got all the belts tightened right?

 

[LiquidOC]

i tightened them to were they only moved a little bit, which is the same tightness that they were before i had to remove them. just rechecked them by pulling on them a bit, and they were still nice and tight like yesterday. checked the powersteering fluid again after i shut off the car, still at the same level. i'm gonna go take my voltmeter to my battery quick before i go to work.

THANKS!

 

[LiquidOC]

just went to make sure that the belts were all tight one last time, and the alternator belt's chewed up. that could be causing all of this, correct?

 

[crankbender]

That belt is probably chewed up for a reason. Try and crank the car over by hand with a ratchet. Have a friend do it so you can watch all the pullies. It might be that you have a ceased pully or other problem causing this.

Odds are you have a drag on the engine somewhere.

 

[LiquidOC]

could it be chewed up because i over tensioned it?

 

[LiquidOC]

um....bump?

 

[Zenja]

I can confidently say that it's the ECU. You started mentioning your symptoms and I thought it was because a pulley was half-seized or something. Then you mentioned the tach thing and I thought to myself that one of the only things that could cause that is the ECU failing. Then when you mentioned the clicking I was pretty sure it's the ECU because they often make a clicking sound when they're going broke.

 

[LiquidOC]

but there's also a chewed up belt....what could have caused that? and if my ECU is failing....how can i tell?

EDIT: keep in mind that it's a second gen talon, and i haven't heard anything about the ECU's failing

 

[LiquidOC]

bump

 

[Insearchofatsi]

I have a similar problem, how can you tell if the ECU is failing?

 

[LiquidOC]

hey, what part of PA you live in? maybe we could help each other out!

 

[LiquidOC]

found out the problem, turns out that when the alternator heated up from spinning, it would start to seize and that's how my battery's drained and everything was getting phucked up. thanks for your help, crankbender.