Matts97cutty89 Posted June 27, 2007 Report Share Posted June 27, 2007 Alright well ive had my cutlass for about 4years now and its a 97 with the 3.1 liter. ive had a system in it for about 2 years now but for like the past 3 months its been giving me problems the system is draining my battery and my ABS light pops on then all my lights start to dim and the low batt. light comes on! last summer i replaced the alternator and battery recently i bought a 1 farad rockford fosgate cap. as for the system its one 15" sub with a lanzar vibe 500 watt amp. i dont konw why this is happening and was wondering if anyone knows how to solve it or has ever had the same problem! THANKS -MATT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Ride Posted June 27, 2007 Report Share Posted June 27, 2007 Sounds like a bad alternator to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89GP_SE Posted June 27, 2007 Report Share Posted June 27, 2007 I would also have to say bad alt. Sorry to tell you this but the 3.1's ate alts bythemselves, add a boom box to them and they die rather quickly. Too small of bearings, they overheat too quickly. I would check all your connections as well though. The grounds on the amp and the power wires, make sure everything is good there. Another solution to your problem is do what I used to do with my gp. I had the amp hooked up to a toggle switch, so I could turn it on or off when I wanted. this way if you notice the alt gage starts to drop or flicker you could turn off the amp and you could stop the drainage of the battery. very easy to hook a toggle switch to the amp, just take the remote wire off the deck, and wire it up to the switch, and have the switch hooked to a constant power. I do this will all my stereos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockfangd Posted June 27, 2007 Report Share Posted June 27, 2007 I would also have to say bad alt. Sorry to tell you this but the 3.1's ate alts bythemselves, add a boom box to them and they die rather quickly. Too small of bearings, they overheat too quickly. I would check all your connections as well though. The grounds on the amp and the power wires, make sure everything is good there. Another solution to your problem is do what I used to do with my gp. I had the amp hooked up to a toggle switch, so I could turn it on or off when I wanted. this way if you notice the alt gage starts to drop or flicker you could turn off the amp and you could stop the drainage of the battery. very easy to hook a toggle switch to the amp, just take the remote wire off the deck, and wire it up to the switch, and have the switch hooked to a constant power. I do this will all my stereos. x2. highly agreed. I dont even run subs and i have still gone through 3 alternators Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slick Posted June 27, 2007 Report Share Posted June 27, 2007 If your killing alternators and battery's that quick, you have a serious current draw issue. First and foremost, don't play your stereo loud unless you are cruising along at a good speed. Also, that capacitor is doing nothing for your stereo. Also, to determine where your current draw is coming from, lets first eliminate the stereo option. Pull the fuse and drive it around without it for a while. You can test the current draw from the battery, with the car off, with a DMM. I would check and clean all of your battery cables connecting points(grounds, alternator connection, battery connection, etc...). Also, if you haven't already, you need to upgrade your cables to a much larger wire. Much better for the electrical system itself. You may also consider a HO alternator (there is mixed reviews about using these) and an Optima gel cell or a nice dry cell (cheaper, much higher cca) battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matts97cutty89 Posted June 27, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2007 Thanks for the advice.............The past two days i have been driving with the fuse out and my stero turned completelty off but i am still haveing this problem as for my connections they are all good. Slick- if i bought a Optima wouldnt i still need a bigger alt. to keep it charged?? Has anyone ever used a H.O. alt. on here before cuase i am willing to buy w/e i need to fix it but i am sick of spending money on things that people say will fix it and i still end up wtih the same problem! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slick Posted June 27, 2007 Report Share Posted June 27, 2007 Again, there are mixed reviews on HO alternators. I guess it really depends on which brand you would get. When it comes to those, generally you get what you pay for. You really should check to see what type of current draw you are getting on your system, especially if you are killing stuff off that quickly. A properly operating system should run for several years with minimum or no problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pontiac6KSTEAWD Posted June 28, 2007 Report Share Posted June 28, 2007 I think he needs to upgrade the big 3. But I dont know if that applies to OBD2 cars. I would imagine it would thou.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1138 Posted June 28, 2007 Report Share Posted June 28, 2007 if i bought a Optima wouldnt i still need a bigger alt. to keep it charged?? I have an Optima Red Top battery in my green GP with the 3.1L and it doesn't have any problems. I don't know why you'd have any issues charging it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted June 28, 2007 Report Share Posted June 28, 2007 I think he needs to upgrade the big 3. But I dont know if that applies to OBD2 cars. I would imagine it would thou.. yes it does. if i bought a Optima wouldnt i still need a bigger alt. to keep it charged?? I have an Optima Red Top battery in my green GP with the 3.1L and it doesn't have any problems. I don't know why you'd have any issues charging it. and me too. im my silver GP. definitely check your draw with a DMM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCGUY112887 Posted June 28, 2007 Report Share Posted June 28, 2007 Take it up to the autoparts store and see if they can do an on-car alternator load test. What kind of system are we running here anyways? Is it a simple 300-500w bumper, or a 5000w blow-your-car-apart system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BXX Posted June 28, 2007 Report Share Posted June 28, 2007 Take it up to the autoparts store and see if they can do an on-car alternator load test. What kind of system are we running here anyways? Is it a simple 300-500w bumper, or a 5000w blow-your-car-apart system? Don't have them do an on car test!!!!.. I work for Autozone and I hate it when people think I can test their altenator on the car... It has to be off the car for an acurrate result.. 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.