electrical problem?

[kcin16]

Whats up everyone. i have a 99 eclipse nt. i drove my car to work and back thismorning woth no problem. about an hour later i started my car and it died almost immediatly and wouldnt restart. now my cd player wont work and my interior lights are dim. my headlights wont turn on and when i switch them on i hear a clicking sound coming from my fuse box under the hood but all my fuses are good. neone have any idea what this could be?

 

[clipsit]

First what electric stuff have you messed with on your car? I had something similar. Make sure it's not your alternator or battery. If you have the stock one or some crappy one I would recommend an Optima Red top or Yellow top, I would recommend the red one though. As far as your lights not turning on, beats me, but I could maybe tell better with what you have done to the car. I am not expert, but It sounds like what I had wrong. Let us know.

 

[Old Mitsu Tech]

From what I can gather from your explanation, I would look at the battery cable and see if it got loose. They've done that before. Check all of your fuses. Get a cheap test light and use it to check for voltages. Start at the battery and work your way out. Check battery, the cables, and check at the starter. Check for burned fuse links. Check on both sides of everything. Just because something looks good and tight does not necessarily mean that it is. Besides, this probably won't be the last electrical glitch you will ever see owning a DSM.

Good Luck

 

[BigRand]

Man the exact same thing happend to my buddies GSX this morning, his Kenwood LCD screen just started to dim on him and then car died. Ouch.

 

[kcin16]

yea the battery is definatly good i had it tested. i was told i might have shorted something out but i cant find any exposed wires

 

[dr1665]

yea the battery is definatly good i had it tested. i was told i might have shorted something out but i cant find any exposed wires

You had it tested since your first post? How are the connections on the battery? Have they been cleaned recently?

The clicking sound is likely the relay in the fuse panel under the hood clicking over trying to power up the headlights, but there's not enough juice there. With the lights and other accessories turned off, does the starter crank right?

It could just be your starter, but the whole "everything dimming" issue throws a wrench in the gears.

Check out your wires coming off the battery. They could be corroded under the insualtion if you've ever had a build up in the past.

:shrug

 

[kcin16]

yea i had the battery checked yesterday. there was some corrosion built up in the past and no it doesnt crank at all

 

[XMasta19]

you had your battery checked...but does that mean you've tried jumping it yet?

 

[BigRand]

Yeah well some good news on this end, woke up this morning and called my friend to tell him to clean his battery terminals, he did, and boom car started right up again with no problems.


You should really start cleaning your terminals, and looking for anywires that might be exposed causing a draw, and definatly testing to see where the power is stoping. (if you want go find a "batteries plus" store or even autozone, shucks, napppa ect. and see if they can't use a multimeter to test it. that way you can see how much voltage is being lost and where.

FYI: its supposed to be 14.2V ish with the car on, or I guess with the light bulb, you can look to see where its dimest.

 

[baxsom]

you can also try this
turn off everything that pulls current with the engine off
ie alarm etc

then take off the neg battery cable and hook a test light from the cable to the post
if the light comes on there is a draw somewhere in the system