| Author | Topic |
|---|
Location:
melbourne
Registered:
November 2003
|
|
weird electrical/mechanical problem........
|
Sun, 06 February 2005 13:02
|
 |
hey guys,
all of a sudden my car has become a real little bitch. my battery keeps dieing out on me. if replaced teh battery and thats not the problem.
my car will start and drive from home to work fine, and ill arrive at work, turn my car off, and then turn it back on just to check that the battery is still live. and it starts no probs. 5 hours later i come back and my battery is dead and car wont begin to turn over. no power at all.
this has happened everyday so its not like im leaving my lights on or something.
i would say its the alternator not charging the battery, but the car starts again as soon as i turn it off, so it almost seems something is draining the battery whilst the car is off. i thought this was the problem so i tried takeing the negative connectiopn off the battery whilst i left it at work. finished work, came back and connected it again, and same problem, dead flat.
any ideas?
|
|
|
I supported Toymods
Location:
Australia
Registered:
November 2003
|
|
Re: weird electrical/mechanical problem........
|
Sun, 06 February 2005 13:06
|
|
Battery could be 100% AOK.
You could have a poor connection somewhere.
That will cause a starter motor to not work.
|
|
|
Location:
On your mum!
Registered:
May 2002
|
|
Re: weird electrical/mechanical problem........
|
Sun, 06 February 2005 13:34
|
|
|
sometimes starters can have problems with the windings or contacts in the solenoid leading to behaviour such as that you have mentioned (AKA poor connection = net result as mentioned by CrUZsida).
|
|
|
Location:
Melbourne
Registered:
October 2003
|
|
Re: weird electrical/mechanical problem........
|
Sun, 06 February 2005 13:38
|
|
If you disconnected the battery and left it, it is most likely the battery -- if it was fully charged to begin with. If the battery was dead flat to start with, and you only charge it for 1/2 hour (on the drive to work) it will surface charge enough to start the car afterwoods aided by the hot engine which is much easier to turn over and will start on the first kick.
If you leave it for a while the surface charge disperses into the rest of the battery and you have a dead battery again.
esp if the battery is DEAD flat (not even a faint red grow from ignition warning lights)
By the sounds of it though you have a current draw problem somewhere. When did it first happen? recently installed anything new like a sterio etc?
Is your boot light going off when you close it? .. etc.
To test the alternator yourself get a multimeter and check the voltage over the battery terminals with the engine running with headlights on.. anything under 12.4 or so indicates a problem, and should really be around 13.5v
A way to check for excessive current draw is to remove a terminal and connect one lead of the multimeter to this terminal and the other to the lead that was disconnected.
Any current draw over 100ma is quite excessive. make sure to do this with everything off in the car otherwise you'll blow multimeter fuse (excessive current)
If >100ma then happy hunting for what it is!
Hope this helps
|
|
|
Location:
tallahassee FL usOFa
Registered:
May 2002
|
|
Re: weird electrical/mechanical problem........
|
Sun, 06 February 2005 14:23
|
|
| Quote: |
i tried takeing the negative connectiopn off the battery whilst i left it at work. finished work, came back and connected it again, and same problem, dead flat.
|
battery!
|
|
|
Location:
Sydney
Registered:
June 2004
|
|
Re: weird electrical/mechanical problem........
|
Sun, 06 February 2005 14:25
|
|
| allencr wrote on Mon, 07 February 2005 01:23 |
| Quote: |
i tried takeing the negative connectiopn off the battery whilst i left it at work. finished work, came back and connected it again, and same problem, dead flat.
|
battery!
|
its not the battery, he mentioned at the beginning that he replaced the battery and the same issue occurs
its either cabling/wiring or starter
|
|
|
Location:
Wollongong
Registered:
November 2004
|
|
Re: weird electrical/mechanical problem........
|
Sun, 06 February 2005 22:16
|
|
|
Starter motor connections I'd be looking at...
|
|
|
Location:
QLD, Gold Coast
Registered:
February 2004
|
|
Re: weird electrical/mechanical problem........
|
Sun, 06 February 2005 23:01
|
|
|
had a similar problem like that, had to take the negative terminal off the battery for a few secs and put it back on and it would run fine, it turned out to be the alternator needed to be replaced because it was using up the battery when the car was off somehow.
|
|
|
Location:
Pilbara
Registered:
November 2004
|
|
Re: weird electrical/mechanical problem........
|
Mon, 07 February 2005 01:47
|
|
|
Alternator or more likely you have a bad earth somewhere. Last time this happened to me it was a loose earth connection.
|
|
|
Location:
melbourne
Registered:
November 2003
|
|
Re: weird electrical/mechanical problem........
|
Mon, 07 February 2005 09:09
|
|
yeah it was a connection problem guys, it was actually something as simple as the battery terminals not beein clean enough and makeing a full contact.
thanks so much for every1's input. i cant believe it was something so damn simple, i feel so stupid.
so there ya goo, the most simple and logical answers are usually the correct ones.
thanks again.
|
|
|
