I hate DSMs! Electrical Problems. [Merged 2-9]

[NJGSX96]

Well the other day I went out and bought a new alternator and battery for my 1G. Of course the bolt for the alternator was in backwards and couldn't come out without removing the turbo/manifold/O2/exhaust, but thanks to my friend Phil and his Sawzall, that was a minor issue. Anyway, when I went to the parts store, they had a 75AMP and 65AMP. The 75AMP is for automatics, but was identical to the 65AMP, which was for manuals, so I went with the 75AMPer. Why not, right? Get it installed, everything plugged in, clean up the battery connections, install the new battery, fire it up, all good. This was Monday. Tonight after work I go back to the car and figure I'll add some goodies I got for my b-day while the car is down. About an hour later I have installed my nice new cockpit adjustable hallman MBC and I swap out my plug wires for the NGK wires I had on before since my Magnecors bit the dust... again. That is it. I do nothing else. Plug up the laptop, start the car, fire up TMO, log battery. 5 seconds into starting the car I hear a high pitched occillating whine and with it the lights are dimming and brightning. TMO battery log looks like I am logging O2 dipping to 11v and rising to 14.5v over and over. Finally steadies at 13.9v and the whine becomes constant, whih is coming from the alternator. I let it idle for 10 minutes. All looks good. I got out for a little test drive and as soon as I get to the bottom of my hill the log shows 12v and i can see the lights dim! Every time I come to a stop it dips to 11v and the dash lights for battery, coolant come on, then go off. I get back home as quick as I can, and park it. At this point the lights are all dim and the log shows 11.6v.

Is this for real? Is my alternator already f#cked up? In all my years of driving I have NEVER had to replace an alternator. is this common for them to die or come bad out of the box? Is the 75AMP not compatible with my car? Where the f#ck do I start to check now or is it just the alternator?

 

[TurboTsiThatFly]

Bumping my own thread.. somebody please help i gotta get this problem solved soon before my parents take my daily driver..

 

[TurboTsiThatFly]

??????????????

 

[TurboTsiThatFly]

????

 

[thewraith]

So it was working fine before you gave it to the mechanic and it's not working fine now? Uh...

 

[MountainDew]

NEVER bump a thread. Also you only allocated not even 20 minutes between bumping it to get help. Nothing will be INSTANT on here.

Have you done the simple check all your fuses?

 

[luv2rallye]

Yes, bumping threads which is strictly against the rules, is a sure way to get people to ignore you (especially Wisemen). I'm giving you a one time break as a warning but no one will if you do it again and you most likely will be banned by the moderators now that you've be warned. Understand that there are hundreds of new posts here everyday and to have to look at them all and discover one's just been bumped is furiating. Also realize that everyone here is a volunteer of their own time and don't just watch for new posts constantly (even the serious helpers can typically only check once a day).

My advice: Check all engine fusebox fuses especially your tail lamp fuse and tail light relay. If ok start measuring voltages from them back to the battery looking for broken wires and/or where there is voltage. If everything looks good or you can't find problem, try disconnecting battery and unbolting engine fusebox. Then look underneath it for wires that are broken, touching, melted, etc.

 

[TurboTsiThatFly]

So it was working fine before you gave it to the mechanic and it's not working fine now? Uh...

yeas it was fine till he got it in his shop and replaced the clutch. and ive checked all my fuses. the tail lamps fuse has no power on either side of the fuse. but could that also make my interior guages not work? and my front running lights?

 

[thewraith]

Bro- hate to sound like captain obvious here but..

Take the car back to his shop and make him fix it. If not, take his ass to small claims court. This is a no brainer: you took your vehicle to a shop for a clutch job and he either didn't reconnect something, cut some wires, or shorted out your fusebox. It's not your mistake, it's his.

 

[awdtsi724]

thats exactly what i would do ha if you want to do it yourself the running lights and your interior gauges are all on the same circuit..check for a bad ground to the trans.. or the 2 connectors under the fusebox....

 

[TurboTsiThatFly]

He fixed it today. Some how a wire had been cut in two. He reconnected it and now they work. He said the wire was under my dash near my gauges wiring. i guess he found it when he replaced the master cylinder. btw the act 2100 clutch is great..

 

[B-Rad94DSM]

This pisses me off. With my headlights on, i pull up to a stoplight and my car bogs down and sometimes make my serpentine belt screech. i know i have to replace my belts but what of the electrical problems.i also notice a raise in RPMs when i turn the headlights off. Alternator, battery, bad grounds?

 

[ProjectTalon92]

there could be a number of different things that could be wrong. what i would suggest is taking the battery and alternator out and having both of them checked. also check the relays that are for the alternator. also on the alternators which i've had a couple like this. the little bolt on the front of the alternator some times doesn't relay the power back to the battery, which can make the battery run low after driving it a while. lastly check all the fuses under the dash and on the passenger side under the hood. if that doesn't help, take it to a shop and have them hook it up to a SCOPE and they can tell you exactly what the problem is.

 

[subie22]

Could be a bad ground, battery, alt on its way out. Depending on how old the alt is, that maybe your cause. I notice on my car i would get the rpm going up and down. Test the battery at idle and see whats the volts its at. If its below 12.5 or above 14.5 or so i would suggest getting a new alt.

as Projecttalon92 said to take out the alt and batt, but the alt is not that easy to get to. It would be wasteful, to findout if the alt is good and you have to install it again. I would do what i said, or take it to a shop and get it load tested. Alot easier then taking out the alt. If thats the case mine as well just replace it.

 

[B-Rad94DSM]

k. thanx guys

 

[5spdFTW]

ok, i had loose battery cables and the car had sluggish acceleration so i tightened the connections and replaced the negative lead connection and they are fine. the car starts and runs perfect. but, before replacing the radiator i drove to get gas so i could run the car to do the radiator flush and when i turned the car back on after getting gas my headlights didnt work!!!! i still have turn signals, brake lights, and brights but not the normal headlights. also when i got the car, the CD player worked but now the CD and casette players eject anything i put in it. the radio never tuned well but now it doesnt do anything.

i have not had the time to check the bulbs in the lights but it seems odd that they would both blow at the same exact time. also, i fixed the battery connection after the lights stopped working.

i hope its just the bulbs. we checked all the fuses we coulnd find and they seem good, but if i blew a fuse wouldnt the brights not work also? there arent separate fuses for the highbeams and lowbeam lights that i know of.

i am thinking of replacing the stock stereo and i want to make sure the car doesnt have electrical problems that can damage my new radio.

 

[luv2rallye]

Do you have a good connection of battery negative to the body as well as the starter bolt?

 

[5spdFTW]

i havent checked. the car runs great, all lights in the dash are bright and clear and there is no hesitation in starting. i just want to make sure i am not going to fry my next set of bulbs or my new radio. how would i check that if its needed?

 

[5spdFTW]

bump

 

[5spdFTW]

ok so when i got the car, the radio lights and gauges worked. now the temp and possible the fuel gauge dont work, the radio ejects everything i put in it and all i have is high beams in the front and my brake lights done come on either, except the one in the spoiler, thank god.

the previous owner reinstalled the stock stereo when i bought the car and i have seen bare wires behind the radio.

the lights stopped working when i turned the car off to get gas and then today after some fun driving out in the country the temp gauge is dead and resting below cool. i know the radiator is ok cause i pulled it from my parts car (87k miles only) and i did a full system flush w/ new antifreeze. also the engine in the car has less than 100k miles and was replaced not long before i bought the car a few weeks ago.

i think it may be a short somewhere behind the radio, but more electrical problems are showing up and i need to find it before large systems start going out.


thanks

 

[My98slvrGSX]

i had a problem similar to this one time. my brake lights wouldnt come on and a few other varios things were off. theres a little module box behind the radio, check and see if that went bad. that went bad on mine and i j/ got it replaced from the dealer it wasnt that expensive. but i never had a problem with my radio ejecting things.

i forgot to add the module box controls the brake lights and turn signals if i remember correctly.

 

[5spdFTW]

my turn signals work fine.

the gas gauge seems to work now, i put gas in it, but the temp gauge works sometimes and then other times it wont.

 

[My98slvrGSX]

have you tryed checking the connections on the thermostat for the gauge. my oil gauge was reading nothing one time and then when i was changing the oil i discovered a wire came lose. just a thought...

 

[Dsm2nr89]

have you tryed checking the connections on the thermostat for the gauge. my oil gauge was reading nothing one time and then when i was changing the oil i discovered a wire came lose. just a thought...

Was it the oil pressure gauge wire ? Do what i did, it must be very oily. Clean the connector end where there it makes contact with a clean dry piece of towel and clip it back on, then get a zip tie and tie it around a nearby hold, that way relieving the wire from having to hang all the time and therefore coming off. I tied mine to a pipe i think it was. Has never fallen off ever since and i guarantee it. I went 120+mph last week and it hasn't fallen off and still getting pressure read so i know it works

 

[My98slvrGSX]

haha word. yea it was the wire. and yea i cleaned it and stuck it back on. good idea for getting a wire tie on it though.

 

[Dsm2nr89]

Thanks I'll post up pics of it soon.