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Electrical gremlin PISSING ME OFF!!!!!

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D_Eclipse9916

20+ Year Contributor
1,430
16
Mar 4, 2004
Vienna, Virginia
Okay so ive had this electrical gremlin since I bought the car. The car would lose battery charge quickly and also during driving, if I have more than two accessories going (AKA windshield wipers one, headlights two, radio three) then the car would not have enough energy to keep the car going. At first I thought bad battery/alternator sicne thje battery was old and the alternator was also not showing much life at idle.

However, after I replaced these items with an optima red top and new alternator the problem continues. I dont feel bad cuz they needed to be replaced anyway, but it pissed me off that there was more of a problem. There is a draw somewhere in the system. I havent had much time nor experience enough in electronics to pinpoint it. So far I have elimnated a lot of things, the voltmeter would show healthy volts/amp without any accessories but owuld drop drastically as more accesories were put on. We ended up turning off the car and noticed the battery was losing charge FAST!!! We pulled fuses and put em back in trying to find the culprit, we found it, but not necessarily the easiest to fix, it turned out to be the ignition fuse of all things. Leading it to be almost ANYTHING.

For any of you that have managed to read all of this and know anything that could help fix this problem let me know. If any of you are experts and think you could fix it by taking a look at my car ill provide beer and pizza! Or if you would like 20 bucks or something. I hope someone will be able to help me, maybe make a friend and not charge my broke ass!

Oh another thing, it wont start without sitting there for a while and turning the key, (not a problem cranking), it just doesnt have enough charge from the battery to start the car. Everytime it takes a while, the CEL pops up. Maybe that owuld help pinpoint it? or is it just like, HEY DUMMY not enough charrge, there is something wrong...duh...
 
Do you have an aftermarket stereo in the car. If so check the amp that you have wired it right and is not staying on when you shut the ignition off? TTY
 
No aftermarket stereo except some components I just put in but that isnt the problem at all, the problem has been around since I bought the car 8 months ago....put in the components 1 week ago....
 
Do you have a service manual for your car and a multimeter?
 
..........what does this imply....."the voltmeter would show healthy volts/amp without any accessories but owuld drop drastically as more accesories were put on.".
 
Check all your grounds. I had this problem and it ended up being my grounds. Some were barely held on by a thread. Some were nasty looking. Just an idea.
 
I'm gonna feed off of this question since it is similar to my problem. I am also having problems with interior accessories. My battery is brand new as well as the alternator. The most noticeable problem is that when I am driving my car and have the radio on, when I hit the brakes, the radio shuts off and then turns back on. It will do this even if I am sitting still in the driveway and lightly tap the brake pedal. The interior lights will also dim a significant amount. I've replaced many fuses, including the 80A alternator fuse, all three fuses on the positive terminal cable, and various other ones. The problem is not the battery since I have no problem starting the car. I will get in and there won't be enough juice going to the power seat belts to even have them come back, but as soon as I start the car and the engine is running, they come back. I've checked the voltage off of the alternator and it is good as well. One thing that I am sure caused this problem is that I bought a battery other than the recommended group size for our car because I needed a battery and they were out of stock. The terminals were opposite what we normally have and I put it in backwards. I've tried to replace everything I could think of, but if anyone can help, it would be appreciated. In regards to the grounds mentioned above, where could I find the interior grounds?
 
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