Weird problem, help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[ETK-kAos]

Okay, I bought this car in January. It is a 1996 Eagle Talon TSi AWD, with a 5 speed. It has 118,796 miles on what I am pretty sure is the original engine. It came with a K&N drop in air filter. I moved to Glendive, MT where some of my friends and I decided to remove my muffler to see if it would help performance at all, and then ran water through the heated up exhaust to open up my cat. They were doing it to their cars and wasn't hurting anything. Yes, it felt like it helped performance, but a little while later my Check Engine light came on, I figured it was just my o2 sensor and have ignored it until now. I have always had a problem with this car going through alternator belts, I guess one of the pulleys is on crooked or something so they wear out every month or two. Last time I got one of the gatorback belts, and it hasnt broken on me yet, but it squeels very faintly now and my Stinger 1 Farad Capacator is reading my battery voltage as 9 volts when the engine is running. It doesn't matter what RPM the engine is at. It used to read 14 to 15 volts. Also, I washed the car today and when I went to take pictures I got on the gas and it it felt like it jolted and hesitated and then there was this weird smell that I can't describe. I ended up just driving home and taking pictures there (They will be posted in the non-performance forum). Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be? With the low voltage, the lunging then hesitating?

Thank you,
Anthony

 

[BISHILVR]

uh....wild guess here: ALTERNATOR.......common prob....that or check your harmonic dampener assembly for seperation..........before you even ask what the harmonic dampener is, do a SEARCH for info on it.............

 

[ETK-kAos]

The alternator is new, also I just had a friend with a 1g Talon AWD look at it real quick and he said that if it was the harmonic dampener you would always hear at and it would be really loud. Could the hesitation then lunging be fuel cut? Also could what I did to my exhaust cause my Check engine light to come on? What is it most likely?

 

[BISHILVR]

does'nt mean the new alternator is'nt fried though.......yeah dumping water in the exhaust could have ruined the rear o2 sensor and caused a cel.....go to autozone and get the alt output checked and while your there get the car scanned for codes so you can see what the code is for...........then let us know....................................

 

[ETK-kAos]

would it be good to try, putting a new belt on the alternator so at least it wont be slipping to see if that solves the alternator output problem? and if not then is it probaby just the alternator? is there more than one o2 sensor? I'll try to find a place around here tomorrow to get the CEL checked, there isn't an autozone here, can Checker do it? or will i have to go to a dealership? how much will it cost to get the CEL checked? oh, and what could the hesitation then lunging be? a friend said it might be fuel cut, but i am running stock boost. what do you think?

Thanks!
Anthony

 

[Defiant]

My bet's on your harmonic balancer.

 

[ETK-kAos]

for which problem? :-/

 

[Boosted4]

just an idea ... check your ECU

take it out, open it up, look .... problem very well could be there

 

[ETK-kAos]

k... where's the ECU?

 

[dets]

get a haynes manual.


the ecu is behind the radio and such. its under it though. you can access it through the passenger side wall. you'll see two gold bolts on one end. on the drivers side is one bolt. remove it from there.



its probably nothing to do with the ecu. see what codes you are throwing and get autozone to bench test the alternator. Stop switching belts and replace some pullies.

you sound like you are really lazy on your rmaintance. i think you should refer to the haynes manual as far as updating the engine internals and parts that require updating.

good luck.

 

[ETK-kAos]

i dont have a haynes manual but i do have a chilton's... its not the best, kinda confusing.. and to think that i want to work on cars for a living.. wow.. i have lots of learning to do..

 

[ETK-kAos]

i put a new belt on, the gatorback belt that i had on there was word down and was shiny with a very plasticy feel. with the new belt on though, the charging system is working right again, also i disconnected my + battery cable and then put it back on to clear my CEL, went for a drive and it didnt come back on, so who knows what caused that

Thanks!

 

[ETK-kAos]

after the drive is tarted the car again, the CEL came on again