White93z34 Posted February 22, 2011 Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 So last night in the middle of a snow storm I get hit with a phone call "my car stalled and it won't restart, I turn the key and it makes a clicking noise." Jill was stuck in traffic trying to leave the business park that she works in for 2 hours and the car died (92' Euro 3.4). 40 minutes to make a 10 minute drive later I get to her all the lights are dim, I jump start the car with the Bonneville, everything jumps to life, battery starts charging everything works as normal I let it run for 15 minutes and am able to turn it off and back on without skipping a beat. And its been fine since, I started it this morning and all was normal, battery didn't seem low. So my question is: Could sitting in gridlock traffic for 2+ hours with the rear def/heater/headlights/foglights/likely the radio on drain the battery down faster then the alternator could charge it? I know these alternators are not exactly high output to begin with and the battery is a couple years old now but its never skipped a beat and after a jump it seems good as new, not to mention the alternator is only about a year old now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mra32 Posted February 22, 2011 Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 You checked the battery cable connections, right? Just making sure because this is pretty much the same scenario as when my battery cable was loose. Actually, turning on the defroster stalled my car when that happened, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow96SE Posted February 22, 2011 Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 I suppose it's possible. At idle the alt (on most cars) really isn't putting out enough current to compare with all the draw from every single accessory on. Could also be the battery might be getting a little old and doesn't hold a full charge anymore. In situations like that, where you are stopped for hours, it'd probably be a good idea to rev the car a bit every now n then to allow the alt to charge, or even just turn the car off (which can't really be done in winter). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmyfloyd Posted February 22, 2011 Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 did she have a GPS/phone/anything else plugged in too? My Fiance killed the battery in her G6 because she left her GPS plugged in and on all the time, but only drives 1.5 miles to one job, and 750 feet to the other. She drove a total of 8 miles in a week, then the car sat all weekend and was dead on monday. The GPS was just wearing the battery down, and her drive wasn't long enough for the alt to charge it back up. Might be something like that where it was wearing down over time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carkhz316 Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 The last power draw test I remember doing was when I was still in school with my 91 Euro I used to have. I turned everything on (lights, defrost, radio, heater, foglights, etc.) pulled a max of ~50 Amps at idle. I then cranked up the draw via the carbon pile (older tester we had) and the alty put out the full 105A rated at idle. I know this was under debate some while back, but if my lowly Lumina alty was capable of sustaining all electrical demands, then surely most other cars should be able to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOT2B GM Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 Check the aux post and battery terminals? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Powered Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 if its the 92 with the cs130 then I can believe it will put out max output for awhile until it heats up, then when it gets hot because those aren't as good at staying cool as the D, will not be as good at maintaining that load after awhile. you might have got it hot enough to cook an egg on it then when it cooled off all was fine again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertISaar Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 if its the 92 with the cs130 then I can believe it will put out max output for awhile until it heats up, then when it gets hot because those aren't as good at staying cool as the D, will not be as good at maintaining that load after awhile. you might have got it hot enough to cook an egg on it then when it cooled off all was fine again. this is VERY true... the GP hits ~14.8 Volts at idle right after a cold start, can even press the brake and not see much of a drop, but the warmer it gets, the lower the voltage drops when idling until about ~13.6 with no loads other than what the ECM is drawing(at ~1600RPM or above, i can't get it to dip under ~14.3). so, yes, entirely possible if not most likely cause. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1138 Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 Is it a regular CS130? Or did you retrofit a D? I know the D likes to stop charging if it overheats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett Powered Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 resistance will do that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted March 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 Just a regular CS130, Been a few weeks now we've taken the car on a few longer trips and its been just fine since... I'll chalk it up to a overheated alternator... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertISaar Posted March 4, 2011 Report Share Posted March 4, 2011 Is it a regular CS130? Or did you retrofit a D? I know the D likes to stop charging if it overheats. according to some GM docs, there's actually a temp sensor in the alt that causes this. it might be a temp switch actually, but that's the cause of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W30post Posted March 5, 2011 Report Share Posted March 5, 2011 The batteries first connection past the cable connectors is the little junction block. Maybe some corrosion there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5speedz34 Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 I've had a slightly stripped battery cable bolt do the exact same thing. As soon as any load was put on it dead.....nothing. Just had to snug down the post some. The worst part about it is I replaced the cables with new ones from GM and apparently the bolts are different from the replacement ones every auto parts store sells. So now I have a potentially loose cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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