1g AWD-possible electrical issues car not working

[90turbotsi]

My 1g AWD has been having some issues which has left it immobile for a few months now until finding the time to fix it.
The start: A few months ago I went to drive it home from a football game. When I turned out of the parking lot it turned off and would not turn back on. When I popped the hood there was a frequent clicking sound sounding like it was coming from the fuse box. After getting a new battery, I replaced the terminal tops. The new battery worked to get it home from school but after some downtime the battery was dead. My alternator has been reading that it is still giving off the normal output. I have already been through three brand new batteries since.
-When I clutch in to shift gears or put in neutral, if the RPMS drop too fast it will turn off. When I go to turn it back on all it does it cranks nonstop and will not turn over. Sometimes this lasts only a few hours or sometimes it will last a few days.
Some days it will appear that its fine but I can't take the risk on long distance drives that it is going to stop working and not work again.

 

[91dsmgsx]

3 brand new batteries??!! holy shit, do a parasitic draw test on the battery and see how much voltage is being drawn from the battery if it is more than .05v start eliminating all the headlights, and other electrical components. thats a start i would also check all grounds and electrical connections to and from the battery as well.

 

[nuclearr]

I had the sam problem unforutnaly I never resoved it the car flooded before I could fix it. But do a draw test.

 

[91dsmgsx]

if you dont know how to do the parasitic draw test turn the key to the off position hookup the positive lead of your multimeter to the negative post of the battery and turn the setting on the meter to amps then ground the negative to the chasis acceptable draw should be around 25ma or less .025amps

 

[90turbotsi]

I will do this but the batteries die when I leave the car sitting for a while without doing anything to the car. A battery issue would not explain why the car turns off when running and cranks nonstop without turning back on though.

 

[Froyd79]

Pull your ecu and see if the caps have leaked. And or residue not cleaned from a cap install. Easy to swap in a ecu with a known working one. But the fluid that comes from the caps can do some crazy things.

 

[steve]

It's possible that the ECU is the whole cause of this. Your car car turning off when running and cranking nonstop without turning back on is one symptom of the capacitors in the ECU leaking. Those are well documented issues.

The simple test is to make sure that your CEL light turns on for about five seconds each time you turn the ignition on. If it doesn't or the light stays on you have a problem. You should also listen for the MPI relay to click about 10 seconds after you turn the ignition off. If it doesn't then your leaving things powered up after you take you key out and that can kill the battery.

 

[90turbotsi]

I pulled the ECU and checked it. Nothing is leaking and there is no fishy smell. It is a relatively newly rebuilt eprom so I can rule out the ECU.

 

[steve]

Does it pass the test? Can't rule it out based on your inspection if it doesn't.
I get ECUs all the time that their owners didn't see anything wrong with until I showed them what to look at.

Since your a turbo car the other part of the test is looking to see if your factory boost gauge moved to zero until you start cranking and returns to zero when you stop (assuming it doesn't start running).

 

[90turbotsi]

Update:
I got a replacement battery today. I put it in and the car still won't turn over.

Steve-when the key is turned and I am not cranking the boost gauge does go to zero. It returns to zero when I stop cranking. The whole time I have been dealing with this I have not had a CEL go on. I do hear the MPI relay after roughly ten seconds after removing the key.

 

[steve]

When you say "the car still won't turn over" do you mean it cranks but doesn't fire and run or do you really mean the starter won't turn the engine over (cranking)?

What you report is mixed results. The CEL should come on for 5 seconds when you first turn the ignition on and then go off. This is part of the car's bulb test and you not that the other dash light should also be turning on at this time. The CEL not turning on but the boost gauge moving are conflicting data points so nothing is ruled out yet. The MPI relay clicking adds some weight that parts of the ECU are working and the MPI system should be powering down after the delay so that it shouldn't be draining your battery. You may have to start measuring voltages. Do you have a DMM and a test light?

 

[90turbotsi]

Yes I mean the car cranks but won't fire. The other dash lights will turn on but again the CEL is not on. Is a DMM a volt tester? If so I have one of those.

 

[steve]

Yes, DMM = Digital Multi-Meter.

It's possible that the bulb is missing or burned out but if it's good you have at least one problem.
Since your profile is incomplete I can't tell if you might have guys around you who could try using your ECU to eliminate that variable.

You have mentioned that your RPMs dropped which could point at a bad/malfunctioning Idle Position Switch or bad ISC. You said that your alternator was giving normal output. what exactly was that?

Do you have any aftermarket alarm, remote starter, audio equipment?

A bad Engine Coolant Temp sensor can cause the car to not start too.

Do you have a datalogger? Does it talk to the ecu?

 

[90turbotsi]

I just swapped the ECU with another 1990 AWD ECUthat we had from another dsm. Still no change except when I crank the CEL turns on for a few seconds and then will turn off by the time I stop cranking. When I had previously checked the alternator with the voltchecker it was reading between 13 and 14V. I do have an aftermarket alarm as well as remote start which have been on the car for roughly four years now. I have never had any of these problems until now though. The coolant temp sensor was replaced a few years ago although I guess it is still a possibility. As for the datalogger, we do have one here but it has been incredibly sporadic when hooked up that it frequently doesn't register that it is connected. I need to fool around with it some for any hopes of having it work.