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?

 

[1999GS]

YEAH! I finally fixed it!!! After all that time spent tearing the dash apart it wasn't on the inside at all. The wires that run though the fender above the front driver side tire were in very bad shape. All of the salt that they put on the roads here had eaten the plastic off 3 of them and 2 of them were corroded right though. I cut all the bad sections out and replaced them and it is as good as ever.

Ross

 

[91GSTBro]

Its been cold out for awhile and my alternator belt started to squeal. When it would all my electirical stuff got brighter then it would stop after a little. When i slowed down everything got really dim. It made my one headlight blow. I tightened the belt theres no more noise but it keeps surging. I thought it might be the voltage regulator but i just replaced the alternator less than six months ago. Anyone know the cause?

 

[Spidey]

It definately sounds like the voltage regulator. Does the alternator not have some kind of warranty?

 

[94clipped]

Yesterday when I was driving and hit the brakes my stereo would cut out, when I stopped and turned the car off, my automatic seat belts would not work and the car would not start, I checked the fuses and nothing. Car still wouldn't start. Then after a while of waiting I came back to the car and it started right up, hit the brakes and the stereo goes out for a second along with all the lights. Shut it off and now it won't start again. I have checked fuses and they all seem like they are in working order. Any advise?

Chad

 

[Laser0385]

Originally posted by 94clipped
Yesterday when I was driving and hit the brakes my stereo would cut out, when I stopped and turned the car off, my automatic seat belts would not work and the car would not start, I checked the fuses and nothing. Car still wouldn't start. Then after a while of waiting I came back to the car and it started right up, hit the brakes and the stereo goes out for a second along with all the lights. Shut it off and now it won't start again. I have checked fuses and they all seem like they are in working order. Any advise?

Chad

Take it to the dealer and see if they can fix it. Or find someone with a Pocketlogger and have them try to pull any error codes.

Chances are the insulation in some wires have deteriorated and they are arcing.

I doubt VFAQ has in-depth procedures for fixing it, so find an expert and see what's up with it.

Jake

 

[Jason_99ozGS]

The same thing happened to me over the weekend when I was replacing my intakemanifold gasket because I had to take the battery out.

Check you battery connections and make sure they are tight! There should be two wires hooked up to the negative terminal and two hooked up to the positive. I accidentally left one off the positive because somehow during the intake manifold removal I managed to bury it under a bunch of vacuum lines. If you have all the wires connected maybe try cleaning the terminals and just double check everything is tight.

But I had the exact same symptoms... Headlights and radio would cut out when I touched the brakes, battery wasn't charging and eventually died, and my automatic seatbelts weren't working at all. So check that and hopefully it will fix your problem

 

[Defiant]

Bolt the battery down so it won't hit the underside of the hood.

 

[94clipped]

the battery is bolted in and does not touch the hood, the connections are so tight that I can remove them, and maybe that part of the problem itself. Thanks for the tips!

 

[Mike1992]

Originally posted by Defiant
Bolt the battery down so it won't hit the underside of the hood.

I think this is also the problem, make sure the positive side isnt arcing the undersaide of the hood, its bad very very bad. laos keep the battery hold down bracket tight

 

[prodsm]

Ok... on my 90 tsi awd,

there seems to be a draw in the electrical system.
When my car is turned off, somthing is slowly draining the battery. The only extra electrical thing i have on my car is my deck (stereo). Ive heard somewhere before that dsms have a sort of electrical draw when you press the brake pedel and lights and such become dim. I dont know if this is related, but i cant seem to figure out whats drawing the power?


plz Help

thanks

 

[Defiant]

It's really not possible to diagnose someone else's electrical disasters by email. Get out your test light and start digging. You might start with pulling the radio circuit fuse and finding out if that's your drain.

 

[luv2rallye]

You can find the short by replacing each fuse (one at a time with car off) with a 12 volt light bulb (should light on circuit with short). Then start temporarily disconnecting the wires in that circuit from the furthest point away from the battery (eg. tail light wires if tail light fuse is the one) and work your way back until the light goes out. The last wire disconnected has the short.

A partial short will lite the bulb dimly. Two circuits always draw a small current - the ecu and the radio (station memory) - but these draw so little (with the car off) that the bulb shouldn't even lite.

 

[prodsm]

Hey thanks guys!

Ill be lookin my ass off ass soon as i get my new alternator in.

Im not a big electrical guy so this qustion might sound dumb, but a blown fuse cannot cause a draw? It has to be a wire right?


Thanks
again!

 

[luv2rallye]

Correct.

Only a shorted wire (like touching the frame or another wire) or a shorted device or devices that draw more current on that circuit than the fuse is rated for can blow a fuse.

 

[luv2rallye]

Also check out: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=54846

 

[Chrisab429]

hi all, I have got a problem with my 90 1.8L automatic eclipse. I was going to jump a freind of mine's car, i hooked the wires up, but somehow i droped the black one somwere near the alternator, then it sparked kinda bright, now my car has no power when its not cranked up, the seatbelts dont move or enything, it cranks up fine, but all the lights dim when i hit the breaks and my subwoofer isnt working. it stalls out if i am idle and i mash the breaks with eny intensity, i havnt driven it enywere yet since it happened about 4 hours ago and i just noticed the problems so i havnt gone enywhere, is there enyone who has an idea of what has happened? mabye a fuse blew or somthing, alternator died, eny possiblilities with explanations would really help, I dont want to take it to the shop and have them charge me 50 bucks to diagnose somthing really simple. thanks

 

[Defiant]

With any luck, you blew a fuse or a fusible link. Check the fuse boxes.

 

[90TurboPOS]

... check the fuses... let us know.

Edit: darn he won.

 

[Chrisab429]

i checked afew of the fuses, but im not sure were all of them are, could you tell me where the nearest one to my alternator would be located? or is there a ground fuse or somthing? and what kind of fuse would i need to replace it?

 

[Chrisab429]

and i just tried driving it, i cant make it out of the neighborhood, it runs for about 20 seconds or so after i crank it, then it tries to stall when i push the gas in, its like hitting the breaks, hopefully its just a fuse, but will all that happen if just one little fuse blows? still havnt found a blown fuse yet, but i dont know were im supposed to be looking at

 

[Chrisab429]

ok guys, i got it, turns out I blew the big 80 amp fuse in the fuse box on the passenger side of the car, i replaced that and everything seems to be back to normal, thanks for your help

 

[mitsu22]

i got a 95 gs non turbo, i was driving down the highway doing about 80 and my car cut off completely, i pulled over and tried to restart it , it cranked but wouldnt start so i checked the plugs and wires they were fine after about ten min i noticed the main engine fuse was blown. so i switched the power windows fuse with and drove home, on the way into thew driveway it blew angain. so i got a diff car and ran down and got a bounch of fuses but it blew them instantly. i figured it was the radio i had just hooked up so i completly disconteccted it, and that wasnt it. ive narrowed down to probly ignition related because it only blows the fuses when you turn the key all the way forward and try to crank the engine, does anyone who knows electrical have an idea of what to do or where to do it at, i imagine its a live wire touching somehting but am not sure, why else would it happen randomly during driving? And with no problems before? any help please!!!

 

[luv2rallye]

I agree it's probably a live wire touching something. Look over and wiggle wires to see if any are not tied down. Also check wires where they attach to alternator, starter, and make sure battery isn't touching hood (like another recent thread). I'm very knowledgable about electrical. Look for the obvious first and we'll go from there to more complicated tests.

 

[Nautica985]

no one ever anwsers these weird electrical problems. I am having a similar problem and this is really ####ing pissing me off. Is there any charts or anything that tells where all the relays and fuses are in DSM because all of the fuses and relays under the hood and in the fuse box are fine. maby there are hidden ones?

 

[crankbender]

it sounds like your main fusable link...

Check all the links these are just fuses that have to be pulled with a screw driver. They are like 80 amp and under the hood in the fuse box. It should have a diagram on it. BTW once you get it fixed you may find you have an alarm...don't freak it gets turned off by the key in the door.