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W Body WTF factor strikes again! (electrical)


Ramma2

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The olds died on me on the way to work today. Sat on the freeway for 45 mins waiting for the towtruck to come, got visited by both the highway helpers and state patrol. eh.

 

The problem I believe started in the steering column. The turn signals started to act up. Turning right would work fine, but if I went to turn left the blinker would stay solid unless I pulled back on the blinker lever a bit (like almost turning on the brights). Then the blinker would work.

 

So this goes on for a few days, then today it hits the fan. Driving in and everything starts to flicker. Radio off and on, lights off an on, tach and speedo reading much higher than they should have been. Finally radio and lights just quit, but I'm still driving. Then the low traction and E brake lights start to flicker together. I let off the gas to slow down for traffic, then when I get on it again there's nothing there. Not enough juice for the fuel pump probably. I coast to a stop on the side of the road and wait.

 

 

I had it towed to a shop, I don't like it when other people are working on my car. I hope its nothing major, the car has 180k miles on it and its right there where it may be time to decide on a new car or not depending on how much the repair bill is.

 

 

Meh.

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UGH why did you have it towed to a shop?? It's most likely the remote positive nut on the driver strut tower. It's probably come loose, and that can cause all kinds of little electrical problems.

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UGH why did you have it towed to a shop?? It's most likely the remote positive nut on the driver strut tower. It's probably come loose, and that can cause all kinds of little electrical problems.

 

I know, it sucked to do that, but I really didn't have much for options. When its a problem that I know about, and have time to research it, then I can take care of it myself. This is one of those things where it needs to get fixed, I don't have any other backup transportation. And since I was 20 miles from home and late for work, it went to the nearest shop.

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Well the shop called, they said its the alternator. 500$. I laughed on the inside. Looks like I'll be doing some parking lot mechanic work this evening.

 

If thats even really the problem.

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I know the feeling, man. The nut worked itself loose from my Regal's AUX post last fall, and I was stranded on the side of the freeway with 75 MPH traffic racing by me. I was in that sort-of "rushed panic" state cause I feared getting creamed by an oncoming car. Luckily I was able to pull it together enough to recognise what was wrong and act accordingly :lol: .

 

Ramma2: What year is your car? Are you having the shop fix your signal switch, or do you plan on doing that yourself? I have a write-up on how to replace the switch on the 94-96's (and 95-99 Montes/Luminas) :

http://www.likeabigdog.com/column/94upsignal.htm

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That does really suck :x

 

just a quick question for you,when you were playing around with the left turn signal did it happen to smoke at all :?:

 

also did you happen to see if any are all the fuses were blown

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No smoke, and I didn't get to check the fuses.

 

But the alternater is making more sense, the ABS light was comming on all the time and I read here that the ABS system is really voltage sensitive. I hope that swapping out the alt fixes my problems.

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Can someone give a brief rundown on what it takes to replace the alternator? Don't have the car or repair manual handy, trying to prepare for doing this in some parking lot.

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