Grand Moff Joseph Posted December 7, 2006 Report Share Posted December 7, 2006 Last Friday, my car died on me when I tried to start it up in the morning. Specifically, I got half of a crank out of it, then I heard a loud pop, and it went totally dead. I could get no juice from the battery whatsoever. I towed it to my mechanic, and he found that the battery has leaked out a lot of acid, and had corroded the terminals to hell. He replaced it with a factory spec AC Delco battery, and it fired right up. I finally took it home last night. however, since then, a new and more disturbing problem has cropped up. Specifically, the car is having trouble maintaining power.... -When I start it up, after the engine turns over, there is a one second lag before the engine revs up to idle speed )hot or cold) -Whether idling or in gear, you can easily hear that the engine gets very weak periodically, then surges back up to proper RPMs. A noticeable high pitched whine has also developed, and seems to sound like a fan that has llost its bearings -When driving the car, starting from a dead stop produces a huge lag between when the gas is pressed and when the power is really pushed out by the engine. -The car has stalled out on me at least three times since this evening. In all three cases, I was coasting to a stop, or mildly accelerating (parking lot speed). In each case, the engine revs dived way down, and it could not recover fast enough, thus killing the engine. I have a feeling that the alternator is dying on me, but I'm no mechanic. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19Cutlass94 Posted December 7, 2006 Report Share Posted December 7, 2006 Well you said that the cables were corroded, did he/you replace them? If not I would try to clean them up the best you can, if you can replace them. That whine you hear could very well be an alternator, which you could get tested at an autozone, but when the car is running, what does your volt gauge read? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Moff Joseph Posted December 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2006 I don't have a volt gauge. Well, my mechanic said he cleaned up the mess, and popped in the new battery. The car was running fine until now, so could that pop that occured when the old battery fizzed out have caused more severe damage?? I've already dropped it back off at my mechainc's, and I'll call in the morning to let him know what the issue is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canada Posted December 7, 2006 Report Share Posted December 7, 2006 I'll bet one (or both) of your cables is full of acid. I'm also betting that loud pop was the battery exploding....they do that when they get low on acid and then asked to produce a good amount of current. I wonder why all the new cars have top post batteries instead of side posts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Moff Joseph Posted December 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2006 I'll bet one (or both) of your cables is full of acid. I'm also betting that loud pop was the battery exploding....they do that when they get low on acid and then asked to produce a good amount of current. I wonder why all the new cars have top post batteries instead of side posts? Hmm...sounds like a good bet at this point. I'll mention it to my mechanic when I call tomorrow. So, assuming yoou're right, can the cables be cleaned, or do you need to replace miles of cable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canada Posted December 8, 2006 Report Share Posted December 8, 2006 Sounds like he already cleaned them, once acid is in it, its fucked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sclary18 Posted December 8, 2006 Report Share Posted December 8, 2006 watch your rpms when you accelerate from idle or a stop, do they drop like 200 and then go up? thats what my 3.1 cutlass is doing, and i have a feeling its my alternator.. mine usually only stalls at idle when i go to hit the gas though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Moff Joseph Posted December 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2006 Sounds like he already cleaned them, once acid is in it, its fucked. OK, so about how much work/money is required to replace the battery cables?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canada Posted December 8, 2006 Report Share Posted December 8, 2006 Depends which cables.....I think they are around $60 each for AC Delco. The positive runs to a fuse block and to the starter....the ground runs a couple of places. I'm not saying this is the problem, because I'm not at the car....I said it could be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Moff Joseph Posted December 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2006 Depends which cables.....I think they are around $60 each for AC Delco. The positive runs to a fuse block and to the starter....the ground runs a couple of places. I'm not saying this is the problem, because I'm not at the car....I said it could be. Right, I see what ou're saying. I'm just trying to gather as much info as possible. Also, my mechanic took a quick look at it today, took it for a spin, and did notice it running rough as I described. He said he let the car idle for over 20 minutes from a cold start, and the engine temp never went past 100. :shock: So, it looks like the T-stat crapped out on me, after 17 years. In any case, the car is way overdue for a coolant change, so I'm having both of those taken care of at this time. I'm hoping that if with a busted T-stat, the engine is always running cold, which is causing the power fluctuations. My only other guess would be the alternator. BTW, the mechanic said he thoroughly checked the battery cables this afternoon, and found no evidence of battery acid damage on/in them. So, I'm starting with the cheap, easy fixes first, and going for the $9.00 T-stat. Updates will come as I know more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Moff Joseph Posted December 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 UPDATE: She's back!! Well, I finally got to pick up the old girl from the shop last night. Overall, the following services were performed: -Change battery (blew due to battery acid leak; was source of original breakdown) -replace thermostat (was stuck wide open, had probably been like that for a while) -Change coolant (overdue for it anyway, had to be done to change t-stat anyway) So, the problem was diagnosed as two fold: 1. Busted thermostat was keeping car from warming up, which can, at the least, exacerbate the power loss I was experiencing 2. Remember I said the battery was changed?? Well, I forgot that my car is OBD I, and that it takes a while to relearn the F'n idle speed!! So, after driving it around constantly for the last 24 hours, the idle has been stabalizing each time I run the car. I looked up the idle re-learn process in my W-body service bible, but as of now, the idle is 95% back to normal. So, OBD I strikes again... Thanks for all the help guys/gals! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ron350 Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Like stated above keep an eye on those battery cables. Acid can run inside the battery cable like it’s a soda straw and eat away the copper cable on the inside of the insulation. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Moff Joseph Posted December 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 Like stated above keep an eye on those battery cables. Acid can run inside the battery cable like it’s a soda straw and eat away the copper cable on the inside of the insulation. *salutes* Sir, yes sir! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89GP_SE Posted December 13, 2006 Report Share Posted December 13, 2006 ll i was gonna mention the idle relearn, and the surging could have been a cracked vac line as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.