stevestevesteve
10+ Year Contributor
- 710
- 9
- Mar 20, 2009
-
Waukesha,
Wisconsin
Alright lets cut to the chase.
i was driving to a family cookout and when i turned my blinker on i noticed my cluster lights (a/t temp, barking brake, battery, coolant) would dim when the blinker was on and light up when it was off. i thought it was nothing. so we get to the cookout and it starts to mist out. no big deal. its around 8:00 PM and we wanna go home. by this time everything outside is wet. including my car. i start it up no problem. but i notice my headlights are not bright at all. everything else is fine. i turn my heater on (it was cold) and the radio. as i am driving i notice my headlights are getting dimmer and dimmer. then my radio cuts out. then my cluster stops working, then my headlights go out (i was driving out in a rainy forest with no lights, or no wipers.) everything is loosing power. so i dim everything, turn the fans off. i hit a red light.... she starts to misfire and almost quit. i get off the brake (no brake lights) put it in neutral, rip the e brake, and rev it up so it doesnt suck so much power. light turns green i go into drive and i have to floor it to get a crawling start (got at least 10 mph) by this time every light on the car is off and the engine is missing horribly. i hit another red light (i am on an overpass) do the same thing rev it. then I HIT ANOTHER RED LIGHT! sorry but i had to run the red. made it about a quarter mile to another red light and it turns green so i go. then i am coasting down a hill and i turn my headlights on. they come on! not as bright though. then i turn into my neighbor hood road and my cluster lights up my radio comes on, everything works again, but not as good as a 100% perfect eclipse. i pull into the garage and i thank God that i wasnt stranded miles away from my house or A house. just to add i dont have a cell, and it was pitch black out with no lights on my car. so if it she quit out in the middle of the road (while it was raining) it would have been rear ended. now here is my question. wtf was that? alternator? another question is , is the mechanism that controls how much juice the car gets, is that in the alternator its self, or in the ECU? i dont really drive the car that much, i have had it about 6 months and only driven it about 810 miles. we are wondering is the alternator dead? and was i running just off the battery? but then the battery should last about 10 min. not 2 min then completely quit. but the night before i was crusing around messing with all the electronics in the car with the stereo going, no problem. idk. i am getting the battery check tomarrow, if that is good then the alternator is getting checked.
please help since my dad and I are stumped.
thought i was lucky to have a DSM that didnt break, damn it!
i was driving to a family cookout and when i turned my blinker on i noticed my cluster lights (a/t temp, barking brake, battery, coolant) would dim when the blinker was on and light up when it was off. i thought it was nothing. so we get to the cookout and it starts to mist out. no big deal. its around 8:00 PM and we wanna go home. by this time everything outside is wet. including my car. i start it up no problem. but i notice my headlights are not bright at all. everything else is fine. i turn my heater on (it was cold) and the radio. as i am driving i notice my headlights are getting dimmer and dimmer. then my radio cuts out. then my cluster stops working, then my headlights go out (i was driving out in a rainy forest with no lights, or no wipers.) everything is loosing power. so i dim everything, turn the fans off. i hit a red light.... she starts to misfire and almost quit. i get off the brake (no brake lights) put it in neutral, rip the e brake, and rev it up so it doesnt suck so much power. light turns green i go into drive and i have to floor it to get a crawling start (got at least 10 mph) by this time every light on the car is off and the engine is missing horribly. i hit another red light (i am on an overpass) do the same thing rev it. then I HIT ANOTHER RED LIGHT! sorry but i had to run the red. made it about a quarter mile to another red light and it turns green so i go. then i am coasting down a hill and i turn my headlights on. they come on! not as bright though. then i turn into my neighbor hood road and my cluster lights up my radio comes on, everything works again, but not as good as a 100% perfect eclipse. i pull into the garage and i thank God that i wasnt stranded miles away from my house or A house. just to add i dont have a cell, and it was pitch black out with no lights on my car. so if it she quit out in the middle of the road (while it was raining) it would have been rear ended. now here is my question. wtf was that? alternator? another question is , is the mechanism that controls how much juice the car gets, is that in the alternator its self, or in the ECU? i dont really drive the car that much, i have had it about 6 months and only driven it about 810 miles. we are wondering is the alternator dead? and was i running just off the battery? but then the battery should last about 10 min. not 2 min then completely quit. but the night before i was crusing around messing with all the electronics in the car with the stereo going, no problem. idk. i am getting the battery check tomarrow, if that is good then the alternator is getting checked.
please help since my dad and I are stumped.
thought i was lucky to have a DSM that didnt break, damn it!
