HELP electrical nightmare? Options

[GriffGirl]

2 weeks ago I replaced my alternator; the car died outside Autozone, and it tested w/a bad diode. So I replaced it and I'm going along fine, but then last week the car starts acting up like the battery is bad. I had to jump it a few times. Nothing weird otherwise though.

I arrange to get a new battery, because the car is still funky. The battery light flashes at me if I rev the car up over 3k RPMs. Last night I pull into Safeway, and think Oh crap, I should back in in case I need a jump, but too late. Dead. Only this time, I CAN'T jump start it. Nothing will work. There's no click, no nothing whatsoever. Even leaving it hooked up to charge it a while doesn't work. When the car died, the check engine light and the oil light stayed on. No other indication of power but that. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!?

Tonight I show up with a new battery, get it all hooked up, but still nothing. I have an alarm light that blinks, and it blinked normally until I did anything to the car. I could step on the brake pedal, or press in the clutch to start it, and the car goes back to dead again, w/the exception of the CEL and Oil lights being on. Oh, and I left the negative disconnected overnight because it just seemed like a good idea.

So the car still sits. When I reconnect the negative terminal to the new battery, I can hear something clicking under the hood that comes from the relay boxes, both by the alternator and the one on the driver's side. Every time I reconnect the neg it makes that sound, and then the alarm light resumes blinking. But doing anything else, even trying to turn on the dome light, will make it go dead again. I've checked the fuses and they all look fine. Do I have a bad ground somewhere? HELP!

[lagos]

check your alternator battery wire, as well as the alternator plug for any signs of damage.

[stephen_lee]

check grounds. My integra did something very similar after a swap. i'd turn the key on, no fuel pump, no lights, no beeping to put the seat belt on, no radio, but the CEL came on. turn headlights on, they're very dim., and everything else comes on, but barely... turnes out a ground on the engine harness wasn't hooked up. so check your grounds!

[WWSideWinder]

Hi GriffGirl

On my Car 3Fe motor i have 3 ground wires.

1) One on the Hook (Top left of the motor)
2) One on the Block going right to the Car Body
3) The big one from just nect to the starter motor to the battery.

Check all of these, The Alternator connections and all the connections on your battery terminals (Pull the wires to see that they are properly secured)

Let us know if any of this helps you

[Dr_Tweak]

Definitely sounds like a grounding issue, or possibly a bad connection at either the positive or negative terminal.

-Doc

[DEATH]

Just add extra grounds from the alt bracket to the chassis where the PS reservoir bolts down like Lagos and I did and of course check the connections you made when you changed out the alt. Also the plastic peice that has all-thread poking through it that is the connection on the alt where the ring terminal installs is super easy to crack. If you cracked it and it has since started falling apart it can cause what you describe.

This post has been edited by DEATH: Dec 30, 2008 - 9:22 AM

[GriffGirl]

Well I googled it too and it looks like it has something to do w/one of the grounds from my neg terminal on the battery. I did check all the alt wiring and it looks great - no signs of corrosion or damage or anything. The snow here last week really did a job on my car - there's all kinds of underbody plastic hanging down for example. My suspicion is that driving on snow-covered packed ice, which was SUPER bumpy, did something. On Xmas the battery bounced around so much the battery bracket was just sort of hanging there. I'm leaning towards that when that happened, the battery slid over (I had to push it back into place) in such a way that it probably made contact w/the bracket and shorted one of the ground wires.

Today I'm gonna go pick up a new terminal connector and wiring to make a new negative lead. Hopefully when I get home tonight that will fix it! I don't think Safeway wants to look at my car much longer! (thank god for neighborhood places like that where they know you!)

[DEATH]

If you're battery has dual posts you can very cheaply buy a negative cable and a replacement screw in post for the front at your favorite store for under $10. Run that to a good clean chasis bolt and see if that fixes it. If not take the cable off there and check going from the alt bracket to the PS reservoir bolts. Keep doing that at all the factory ground spots.

[D-Man]

You DO infact have the new battery in it, yeah?

Deff has to be a connection somwhere. Go ahead and add that extra grounding cable from the alt to the ground like on death's progress (i dont have a pic of mine) check over all your connections, and that every thing is holding well, and buckled down.

One other thing, you mentioned a clicking noise when you put a battery to the car. You may also very well have some striped and funky wiring job going on... You should remove and check the harnesses behind the driver side kick panel, they origonate from under the primary (under hood) fuse box, and go behind your fender (between fender, splashgard, and framing). Those wires get control your ignition and everything. So when people install alarms and crap, they mess with all of that; witch can lead to problems. Also, (if you're sure you alarm isn't any kind of issue and you have no other problems) then it's also possible that between that wiring harness 's(kickpanel) and the primary fuse box; THOSE wires (behind the fender) get old and start to chap, and fall apart; when they start crossing, youre car will do all kinds of strange crap. That was an issue i've had to deal with, and it sucks. You may wanna check that out too if your connections are all good.

Did all of that make sense? I'm doing a hundered things at once here in my office I'll elaborate if i've done a bad job on any part of that, or leaft you with confusion.

[GriffGirl]

What you said about funky wiring makes sense, but I'd think it would've presented symptoms long before now. I've had the car a year and a half, and it has a factory alarm system. Actually I've gone through any aftermarket wiring stuff and cleaned up what little needed it, so I doubt that's it. If replacing the ground from the neg doesn't work I'll tow it home and start digging through the wiring... somehow. I have to work every day until we shut down and I don't get home until after dark

[Batman722]

bad alternator (voltage regulator)

[GriffGirl]

Bad ground wire from block - see pix below:


jerry-rigged together to get out of the Safeway parking lot and also to work today - see ugly wire right by the dipstick



WTF is this?! This atrocity connected the lead off the block to the lead connected by the strut. Is this thing an integral part of the workings/ground of my block? Can I skip this thing and just replace the entire wire w/a not-corroded wire? Should I buy a heavier gauge wire while I'm at it?

[DEATH]

Yup - that's what I thought. I'd just do what I did and replace the whole wire with a good neverstart wire from Walmart [Your favorite place ] and call it a day. Make sure you leave enough slack to account for older motor mounts and the 7a's amazing torque

[D-Man]

Yup - that's what I thought. I'd just do what I did and replace the whole wire with a good neverstart wire from Walmart [Your favorite place ] and call it a day. Make sure you leave enough slack to account for older motor mounts and the 7a's amazing torque

I x2 this, and again with the addition of groundings; griffy, you've seen where the rest of us add grounds. Might wanna go ahead and throw an extra one in just incase.

Neverstart? I believe that's the probelm

[DEATH]

Neverstart? I believe that's the probelm

Old term mostly reserved for their awesome batteries
Their cables have been holding up in our engine bays for a year and are still plyable and look like new so far. No corrosion either.

Griffy - Yes, go ahead and upgrade the gauge of the wiring while you are at it and if you have enough money add a few more in the stock locations for good measure.
Here is an in progress pic from when I was testing this as a fix to a whole host of goofy electrical gremlins I had last year:

[For the Nazi's: yes - I cleaned up that wiring ages ago - this was literally from when I was testing the fix]

This post has been edited by DEATH: Dec 31, 2008 - 11:52 AM

[Dr_Tweak]

What I think is pretty cool is that the first thing Griffgirl said, after describing the problem was, "Do I have a grounding problem"?

Looks like you don't need our help at all Nice work griffy.

-Doc

[DEATH]

What I think is pretty cool is that the first thing Griffgirl said, after describing the problem was, "Do I have a grounding problem"?

Looks like you don't need our help at all Nice work griffy.

-Doc

x2 - everytime she has a problem I get a PM saying she's gonna text me tonight if she needs help - then in the AM I get a text that says "fixed!" or something to that effect

[GriffGirl]

Awesome props, thanks guys! But I still need to know WTF that plastic crap is and if I need to replace it from the dealer or can I just bypass it by connecting a new heavier gauge ground wire?

[stephen_lee]

That plastic connector is just a "disconnect" so when you pull the motor, you won't have to unbolt the grounds. It's just a convenience type thing, though I have no idea why they did it, you're pulling an engine, whats one more bolt gonna hurt? So I'd just bypass w/ a heavier gauge ground wire.

[D-Man]

Awesome props, thanks guys! But I still need to know WTF that plastic crap is and if I need to replace it from the dealer or can I just bypass it by connecting a new heavier gauge ground wire?

No. Not needed. Replace with heaver gauge and bypass away.

and i wanna give Mad Props for you being the coolest car-chick ever!! You're deff. smarter than most (guys or girls) Hopefully you'll have an award in playrs goofy thread

[WWSideWinder]

Hi GriffGirl

Have a look at my Curren Updates to see how I have updated my Ground Wires.

I replaced the connection bolck thingy with a 8 Guage Wire and ran a new 8 guage to the central grounding "distributer"

How are you doing with changing your interior lights?
How are you dowing with your Powere windows upgrade?

Good job on getting your car going.

[CelicaST_CALI]

Make sure you leave enough slack to account for the 7a's amazing torque

amen



Good job griffy!!!