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?

 

[DSMonstah]

i forgot to mention....
the car started acting up a day ago.
My uncle called me over and said that his warning lights were on but wouldnt turn off.
At that time the car was running fine. But when we popped the hood and started the car, the idle was all F'd up. Then all of those problems started.

 

[DSMonstah]

bump....

 

[L2RTSiAWD]

bump....

Bumping is against the rules.

 

[DSMonstah]

well i guess my other thread was locked because i bumped it up, I guess i should have read the rule a little bit better

but yeah: this is what i need help with

im a newb when it comes to DSM's. I drive an FC, so i actually know more about rotaries than i do about piston engines. Im here to ask you guys for some help. My uncle is going to give me his 1st gen eclipse (93 base i believe) but the thing is that it cant hold an idle when cold and some of the warning lights come on and stay on (ebrake, coolant, and some others) but no check engine light.
We replaced the battery, but that didnt work. We're thinking that it may be the alternator, but not very sure. Dont want to mess with it yet.
The weird thing is, everything works (radio, lights, power seatbelts, etc...) but once the car is turned on, the engine dies after a second. I actually have to keep my foot on the gas to keep the car alive. But when the car is all warmed up, it'll hold its idle like normal.
So if you guys can help a kid out, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DSMonstah]

i forgot to mention....
the car started acting up a day ago.
My uncle called me over and said that his warning lights were on but wouldnt turn off.
At that time the car was running fine. But when we popped the hood and started the car, the idle was all F'd up. Then all of those problems started.

 

[DSMonstah]

can someone please help?? I wrecked my FC and my uncle still cant figure out whats wrong with the eclipse. I've been carless for more than a week. I can fix my FC, but i dont have the money to pay for th damages, and to make things worse, the front passenger side axle is snapped. PLEASE HELP ME!! I need the eclipse to start running.....

 

[steve]

Rather than continuing to reply to your own posts which is also considerd bumping, would you go measure the voltage at the battery with the car off, and again with the car running.
Check the alternator fuse in the front engine bay fuse box for continuity and report back.

Steve

 

[93DE-EZ-UM]

Marc.

I know this thread is old but did you ever resolve your battery issue? What 's the fix?

 

[Drifte]

hey yeah im having the same problem. exact same. but I already have a lot of 4 gauge grounds. I'm going to use a Sabre and do an alternator test, and another battery test. my voltage gets waaay down, had it down to 8.9 volts last night. I have a new (day old) O'reilly alternator (re-man) and an O'reilly battery which checked out good yesterday and is farely new. I've lost my door dinger, power door locks and seatbelts since this started happening. Im gonna go lok around some more for any thing that looks out of place.

 

[psychlow]

Checking the 90AMP fusible link for the alternator would be a good idea, IMO.

 

[1GawdJunkie]

I had the same problem with my original that came with the car 75amp. Through searching I found a 90 amp that bolts right in. Granted that failed with in 5 months but it was replaced for free. This second 90 amp is great I roll at about 13.3-13.8 on my scanmaster at all times.

Here is the link, just put it in the browser.

http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiB...ters=|~WITH+AUTOMATIC+TRANSMISSION&PageSync=7

or visit autozone.com

BECK_ARNLEY part number 186-0720 $219.99 with a $55 core

or

DURALAST-IMPORT 90 AMP 14877 $129.99 with a $70.00 core ( I am using this one and have not had to change any fuses)

Good luck

 

[alex99gst]

If anyone would like, here is the link to my previous thread when I knew something was up with the oxygen sensor. http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228772

To make a long story short, I thought my 5k mile old oxygen sensor was and the ECU threw the o2 code. I replaced it and the logger still only reads .06 or .08 volts fully warmed up and does not cycle at all during driving.

Now to the new problems. I was boost leak testing today and noticed that my FPR gauge was reading 60+ psi with the car off. It normally doesnt read anyting with the car off. I uncap the PCV and it drops back to 0. Now as I'm putting the hose back on I keep bumping the wire loom that has some of the thermostat, oxygen sensor wires and such in it. Every time I bump the wire loom the pump runs or something because the FPR gauge shoots up to 60+ psi extremely fast. It did this about 10 times before I even got the hose back on. I think that because it is all loomed together with the oxygen sensor that maybe this could be contributing to the problem. I need to know where to start on diagnosing this because I have no idea. I am thinking maybe cut the loom open and follow all the wires to see if any had come apart somehow. I doubt that I got 2 brand new oxygen sensors.

 

[missouri_dsm]

I would cut the loom like you said and check for shorts. Look specifically at your cas wires every turn of your cas it will pump fuel so, if whichever wire triggers the fuel pump from your cas is shorting out then it would cause that.

 

[alex99gst]

I would cut the loom like you said and check for shorts. Look specifically at your cas wires every turn of your cas it will pump fuel so, if whichever wire triggers the fuel pump from your cas is shorting out then it would cause that.

I do have the MAFT tapped into the CAS wire for the RPM signal although I have yet to use it. Lets assume that is the problem with the fuel pump coming on randomly. I am still stumped on the oxygen sensor issue. I'll cut it open and have a look tomorrow.

 

[missouri_dsm]

if you are running rich it will cause your o2 sensors to fail quickly. Also assuming you do have a bad connection or a short in your cas wiring it could cause your car to do all sorts of things like run extremely rich or even extremely lean which would cause unusual o2 redings and or 02 failure.

 

[alex99gst]

I just took the loom apart and fixed the CAS wire. No more weird fuel pressure issue, but I couldn't get it to do it again . I got all of the loom off of the wires and it looked like someone had messed with it and done some wiring of their own . There is some random brown wire that goes over top of two other wires and I can follow it back into the part of the wiring that holds itself to the intake manifold. Does anyone know if this is right? Looks like someone did some crappy wiring to me. The picture shows the weird brown wire that just starts out of nowhere but it looks like the other wires are inside the brown wire. If you can't tell, the wires coming from the brown wrap around two other wires and that is the wires you see sticking out. This is strange.

 

[missouri_dsm]

that is normal alex. The brown wire has a white stripe.correct? And then a white wire and a black wire come out of the brown/white wire.

 

[alex99gst]

that is normal alex. The brown wire has a white stripe.correct? And then a white wire and a black wire come out of the brown/white wire.

I guess that is good and bad. What do you think I should do to try to track down the problem then?

 

[missouri_dsm]

if the wiring on the cas was causing you to run rich it very possibly could have ruined your 02 sensor. Your plugs are also probably fouled so I would replace both. Have you checked the 02 voltage after warm up since you fixed the cas wiring?

 

[alex99gst]

Not yet. I'll try to drive it around and see if anything is back to normal.

 

[missouri_dsm]

I would say that there is a good possibility your 02 voltage will read normal again as long as your 02 sensor is still good.

 

[blackrosenova40]

I just recently did a basic rebuild of my engine (1990 Gsx). Ran great until tonight it started to stutter and then ithe stuttering quit. Then when I was driving it again a couple hours later it started to stutter again and now it wouldnt quit stuttering and then the check engine light came on.

So I ran for codes, 1 normal sweep, then 2 long sweeps, pause, 2 short sweeps, long pause, then 4 long sweeps, then pause , and then back again to the 1 normal....ect ect

So I presumed it was my cas and so I went to go test the voltages getting to the cas and they read fine until I accidently shorted it out.

Now I get no voltage whatsoever to the cas harness plus I can no longer read for codes (multimeter reads 0 constant , not 12 volts.

Can anybody help me? Did I short a relay perhaps , or is there a fuse I dont know about that I shorted, because I hope I didnt harm the ecu. (According to my Haynes manual it should read a constant 12 checking for codes if the ecu is bad.

 

[steve]

A 12 code is the MAF and 24 is the speed sensor.
The main ECU fuse is the MPI fuse on the positive battery terminal but blowing the ignition one there would also keep the ECU from turning on.

Steve

 

[alex99gst]

Well hey man thanks for all your help. I'm going on a trip and wont be back until saturday. I'll drive it around then. I had to put her up in the garage for the week.

 

[missouri_dsm]

no problem.