Car died, after started now runs terrible

[Clinical]

So I'm really confused as to what has happened.

The car in general for being not really well tuned, a bad exhaust leak, and a few other things since I got it put back together has been running damn good. Driven 500 miles already in the last 2 weeks on it just driving around town in it.

Tonight going around a corner pushing in the clutch, the car died (it does this sometimes anyways) but everything died this time. I barely had any power. No power for lights or anything. My seat belts were moving super slow.

After screwing with the battery terminals a bit, all power was back. Ever since then it'll start and run fine while being driven, but between shifts it'll jerk a bit and it will not idle at all on its own. Just cruising back home on the highway 10 minutes at 65mph it was fine, completely normal nice and smooth.

Sometimes when it tries to idle it'll sputter down to about 350-400 rpms for a second and kick back up and fall down again and stall.

I'm baffled, it ran decent before.. I don't know what could of happened.. ECU issue maybe?

 

[kidtsi]

Any cel?

 

[Clinical]

Any cel?

Nope, no cel. I meant to take a vid of it but my phone didn't have enough battery.

I at first thought perhaps it was the ECU as I've heard of similar issues before, but I wouldn't think it would still run so smooth driving as it did.

 

[1990AWD]

is the battery good? terminals and ground in good shape?

 

[V8killer23]

Sort of sounds like the battery could be bad, or maybe the alternator, but I dont think if the alternator was bad that when driving it would stall out.

 

[Clinical]

Battery is definitely in need of replacement, just judging by the nastiness around the terminals when I took the car apart and is definitely on the list to replace however I don't see how this would cause the car to run shitty in general from stops and such and cause stalling.

 

[LiquidX]

Replace th battery if it's not holding charge and deffinatly get the alternator tested. I've had a bad one in the past and it was causing Hell. Car would stall, random things would stop working etc. Went to Autozone, shut it off and never started back up. Alternator was dead.

 

[JAX2Ganey]

Take the battery to get tested to take the guess work out of it. Then, test your alternator. It definately sounds like the both of them.

 

[dsm4life91tsi]

i had a similar problem me and my buddy where driving around town, and my car lost all power had know idea what happen, it happen once before and then the car would start right up,long story short i found out that my my terminals where grounding out on the hood, you check that

 

[e30_fiend]

I second the grounding on hood suggestion. Sometimes previous owners will swap in any ol battery that has the terminals in the right place. They don't think about the height of the battery. Same thong happened to my car. Check your hood above where your battery sits. But if its not that, replace the battery. Great batteries can be had for under $150 no problem and if maintained correctly, they will last quite a long time. It's really just am investment. Buy a nice battery and you won't be sorry later.



Taylor

 

[Clinical]

Well I took the car to my friend's shop today to fix a bunch of minor issues.
Fixed oil leak, exhaust leaks, some rattles, and a few other things.

Then we tested the alternator, it did great. Tested the battery, did horrible.
New battery and it runs phenomenal and all my electrical issues are gone.

All the good news couldn't come without bad though, found a decent amount of coolant in my overflow and I haven't even gotten on it in the 400-500 miles I've driven it since putting it back together after doing a bunch of new mods and replacing my blown OEM headgasket with a MLS. GAH!! I hope it was just leftover from last time or excess from overfilling.. If it still pushes it after getting on it, I'm just going to get an SCE Titan Gasket.