supreme_style21 Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 Driving the car this morning and I come to stop at a light. I hit the brake and the car dies, or so I believe, for a second. The gauges fall down to their 'off' position, the radio shuts off, and the ABS and BRAKE lights come on. Traffic was heavy and I thought the car died, so I put 'er in neutral and turned the key.. the starter just ground and whined, the gauges flipped back up to their proper positions, and the radio kicked back on. I pulled over and checked the battery cables and alternator harness.. all tight. Problem never resurfaced, so I didn't think anything of it. I was driving back home this evening. I hit the brakes at a stop sign and it does the same thing as I described above.. only I didn't try to restart it.. it all occured within a few seconds, and everything went back to normal. I got back up to highway speed and tapped the brakes.. same problem. Turned my headlights on, same problem. The BATT. light would appear in the HUD for just a BRIEF second (I had to do it several times just to see what the icon was). The BATT. light wouldn't appear in the instrument panel though. After a few miles, I couldn't get it to repeat the problem. The A/C was on. Battery cables are tight and clean. Battery itself is new. Alternator is a few years old.. The alternator is the only thing I can think of. I'm gonna test it tomorrow at work. Anyone got any other ideas? edit-if this should be in powertrain, move 'er on over! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1138 Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 Alternator, or battery. Since the alt is old, I'm pointing at it. When I first started my GP myself, it had a bad battery, so the alternator was the only thing running the car, really. The car would almost die at every stop sign, the idiot lights would flash and the car would almost stall. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supreme_style21 Posted June 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 I am thinking alternator as well.. I'll have it tested tomorrow.. The only other thing I can think of is a bad ground. I haven't done anything to the car recently, so I can't blame myself for screwing something up. I hope it's not the alt. I have no money. Its a lifetime warranty, but its thru a shop 50 miles away, so I don't know how big of a pain in the ass it'll be to get that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cutlassdude96 Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 use a volt meter to see how much volts its putting out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supreme_style21 Posted June 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2004 Tested it today. 14.2 under load. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supreme_style21 Posted June 7, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2004 Someone brought up the idea of a voltage regulator. Does that sound logical? It makes sense.. but I'd like to know for sure before I drop 60 bucks and start throwing parts at it. Alternator and battery have tested fine each time I've done so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian P Posted June 7, 2004 Report Share Posted June 7, 2004 check for tightness and cleanliness of the auxiliary battery terminal. triple check the battery connections, clean the contacts with sandpaper even though it may look good. Replace the bolts on the terminals if you think it needs it. Then do a once over of the grounds underhood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supreme_style21 Posted June 7, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2004 Where are all those grounds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
93CutlassSupreme Posted June 7, 2004 Report Share Posted June 7, 2004 Someone brought up the idea of a voltage regulator. Does that sound logical? It makes sense.. but I'd like to know for sure before I drop 60 bucks and start throwing parts at it.Alternator and battery have tested fine each time I've done so. an alternator can test good at the store and still be bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supreme_style21 Posted June 7, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2004 Someone brought up the idea of a voltage regulator. Does that sound logical? It makes sense.. but I'd like to know for sure before I drop 60 bucks and start throwing parts at it.Alternator and battery have tested fine each time I've done so. an alternator can test good at the store and still be bad. I know. I work with them every day. I still haven't ruled the alt. out, but it tests good each and every time/every day that I test it. It tests at the lowest voltage allowed, so thats why I really haven't ruled it out yet. Each test yields LOW 14v each time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
93CutlassSupreme Posted June 7, 2004 Report Share Posted June 7, 2004 Someone brought up the idea of a voltage regulator. Does that sound logical? It makes sense.. but I'd like to know for sure before I drop 60 bucks and start throwing parts at it.Alternator and battery have tested fine each time I've done so. an alternator can test good at the store and still be bad. I know. I work with them every day. I still haven't ruled the alt. out, but it tests good each and every time/every day that I test it. It tests at the lowest voltage allowed, so thats why I really haven't ruled it out yet. Each test yields LOW 14v each time. does it smell burnt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supreme_style21 Posted June 7, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2004 Not at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SigEpCutlass Posted June 7, 2004 Report Share Posted June 7, 2004 it's your alternator dude. mine acted up similar to that when i had too many of my accessories running during the winter. It just didn't do that with my brakes though. Even if it "tested" okay, when driving is a different story. It's probably on its way out. I didn't take heed of my warnings which is why I got stranded on the other side of campus from my apartment on a really cold 20 degree day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
93CutlassSupreme Posted June 7, 2004 Report Share Posted June 7, 2004 interesting, as i had very similar problems as you, but my car would totally stall out idling at a stoplight in gear. my alt tested fine, but smelled burnt. it was the orig. delco one a new batt and alt solved the problem. don't buy a reman alt, my alt must not charge very well at idle, as the lights go really dim and the volt gauge falls into the yellow. never had this problem with the delco one before it failed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Posted June 7, 2004 Report Share Posted June 7, 2004 Off the wall, but how about a vacuum leak in the power brake booster? Hit the brakes at light, vacuum fails, car dies???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supreme_style21 Posted June 7, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2004 it's your alternator dude. mine acted up similar to that when i had too many of my accessories running during the winter. It just didn't do that with my brakes though. Even if it "tested" okay, when driving is a different story. It's probably on its way out. I didn't take heed of my warnings which is why I got stranded on the other side of campus from my apartment on a really cold 20 degree day. Exactly what I was thinking. It doesn't do it all the time... just an occasional 'now-and-then' kinda deal. All signs point to it I guess. I have a lifetime warranty on the thing, but I dont know how I'm going to work it out with the shop back home. I can't really do anything until it takes it's final shit. Warranty won't cover an alternator that 'tests' good at that moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
93CutlassSupreme Posted June 7, 2004 Report Share Posted June 7, 2004 it's your alternator dude. mine acted up similar to that when i had too many of my accessories running during the winter. It just didn't do that with my brakes though. Even if it "tested" okay, when driving is a different story. It's probably on its way out. I didn't take heed of my warnings which is why I got stranded on the other side of campus from my apartment on a really cold 20 degree day. Exactly what I was thinking. It doesn't do it all the time... just an occasional 'now-and-then' kinda deal. All signs point to it I guess. I have a lifetime warranty on the thing, but I dont know how I'm going to work it out with the shop back home. I can't really do anything until it takes it's final shit. Warranty won't cover an alternator that 'tests' good at that moment. help it along Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supreme_style21 Posted June 7, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2004 Heh.. I don't want it to go.. period. I have absolutely NO tools to fix it with. I have NO way whatsoever of getting the thing back home so the shop can replace it on warranty. I have NO car to get around town with. I'd walk, but I live a good 8 miles from work I think.. plus I'm lazy. I just don't want that bastard to go out. But.. its about time I guess... two years old... time to die. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supreme_style21 Posted June 21, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 A few nights ago, I went out to start it. Unlocked the door, int. lights turned on, I shut the door and turn the key = nothing. Tried a few things, NO power to anything. Its a fairly new battery, so I was somewhat boggled. A buddy jumped the car. It didn't take the jump right away, but after a few minutes of chargin, it turned over and fired up. I drove it home a few blocks and shut it off. Tried to start it right away.. 100% dead. Checked cables, grounds.. all good. I got pissed off and left it sit there. Came back a few hours later and it fired right up like nothing was wrong. I pulled into the street and it died. Fired it up again and it, once again, started acting like it did as I described in the first post. I checked the alternator and battery again - clean and 100% within operating range. It acted like that for the remainder of the few miles home. Hasn't acted up since those few days ago... What am I missing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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