car stalling out on idle-bad ground or alt.

[speed_krazy_chu]

Just happened the other day, no signs before today other than my dash lights somewhat fluttering(the Coolant,Battery and Brake lights) sometimes come on very dim when im idling but go away when i accelerate. But today on my way to my friends while waiting outside his house with the fans on,lights on i waited about 10 minutes then proceeeded to my house, on the way there we noticed lights starting to dim and sound system went off,wipers slowed down and then i stalled out on the corner...in the pooring rain we tried seeing wat was wrong...didnt see any loose wires or anything interfering. Luckily i had my old crapped out battery in my trunk and she started up,started to go again but got it to my friends house house again where it is now. He said its still not acting right. It wouldnt turn over when i tried,alternator???its almost brand new...i have a brand new battery and alternator...hopefully this isnt my alternator. Could be the rain shorting something or maybe because i neevr usually had so much stuff on(lights,engine,cd player,fans,wipers) and it was overloaded but even when they're off now its still bad.errr.....help

alright...yesterday i got the car back from my friends place you and it was fine...drove it around all day thinking it must have been a water short....got my optima charged @autozone that took like 3 hours.... drove it about 40 miles and let it sit...2 hours later when me and my friends decided to go to get food......it didnt turn over.....swapped my optima back in and it got a charge and started up, but then my idle was shitty again and those three lights starting dimming(battery,coolant,brake).....my friend checked the voltage and it was alright before we left...the alt. was lower than it shouldve been but the battery was fine then. Drove about 10 miles and it feels like its gunna stall again...i parked and opened the hood. my friend couldnt get a reading on the alt. @all. 0 volts......damn......the battery had 12.1 on idle...shut it off-unplugged and when we came out i turned everything off ......gauge lights were barely on...and only headlights were on.....got home safely and luckily but the idle was so inconsistant. Do you think its def. the alt. or maybe a bad ground?

 

[speed_krazy_chu]

just checked the car and think i might have found the culprit...the belt is fudged up...its torn in the middle and think it lost the whole right edge....hopefully its not the guide just a shitty belt...do you think that might be it?

 

[kingk]

the same thing happend to me like 2 days ago... well it was still happening. I found in my fuse box the fuse for the Engine was gone. Its a 20 amp fuse. I charged up the battery again and started the car up just fine.. But when i went to go turn it off, all the lights and everything went off, but the engine still keeps running!@! WTF... i was looking at my key not in the ignition, and the engine was still running. My system and everything else cut off though. So i stalled the car out, and the lights on the gauge bezel were still on. I pulled the Fuse again, and all the lights went out. I think i got ur first problem, but there is another one waiting... ERGH WTF

 

[speed_krazy_chu]

My fuses are all good...first thing i checked. check these photos out of my ALT. Belt...i think i found the culprit.

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[kingk]

ouch........

 

[doodie]

You don't have a better picture to show the bottom. From what I've seen in person, the belt on the alt pully might have jumped over to the other side. I don't think the car is driving the belt that well on idle. You know the car doesn't die when you do give it gas. Its only when its idling. I think you might have kicked up a rock while you were driving and hit some of those potholes you were talking about and teared up that belt.

 

[wrxlvr]

mine did the same thing. It was the alternator. Cheapest place I found a new one was Autozone for ~$100.