car is broke need help!! vid

Night Shifter · Dec 1, 2009

long post but im trying to get all info in i can for this...squeel while driving, throws bettery light, then car shuts off, now it wont start..

ok, it started a few months back when i loaded my new tune... i noticed the battery light started flashing..under full throttle it would go away.. after about 10 minutes of driving it would go away and not come back on the rest of the day... it only did this twice...i know sometimes new tunes can cause lights to come on until a little bit of a break in and thats all i thought it was..

when i swapped my intake manifold i noticed the ground terminal on the battery was loose..i figured that might have been the problem...tightened it... no light since then... that was about a month ago...

friday i drove the car and on the way to work, the battery light came on and stayed on almost the whole drive to work...i only drive 9 miles but in traffic and the way the roads are there it takes anywhere to 20-30 min. to work... about 5ish minutes before i reach work it goes away...stays off the rest of the day..

sunday, i drove the car and same thing...light comes on and stays on 3/4 of the way to work...flashes a few times and even turns off when at wot...so i figure my alt. is going bad since i just put a new belt on a week ago and the bettery is also brand new..

when i take it to lunch that day, i noticed a weird metalic ticking coming from the front of the motor as im sitting in line at the drive thru...when i leave it got a little louder...about 1 mile away i got to stop at a light and the bat light comes on and the car shuts completely off...i came to a stop...tried 3 times to start it and on the 3rd try it starts up... get it to work, pop the hood and can hear some ticking coming from somewhere in the accessories...

on the drive home, at first the ticking is low...but by the time i get to my road its really loud and increases during throttle and every couple seconds i get a weird squeeking noise like a pulley is freezing up... right as i get to my section of my road the battery light comes back on then the whole car shuts off...this time it wont start at all

all i get now it a weird bang when i turn the key...sounds like the starter engaging but thats all... i took the alternator to napa and they tested it and said it was fine...so with a new belt/battery/and a good alt. what could this be? i can turn all my pullies by hand and they spin freely with no noises....maybe napas machine screwed up?

i checked all my fuses and none of them are blown... i did notice when trying to make the vid of the starting noise that the theft light stays on after the key is turned....maybe something in my pats sytem effed up? but even if it did, why would i have gotten a squeeling/ticking noise? my oil pressure never raised or dropped, volts stayed normal, and the temperature guage was normal the whole time i was driving....

im at a loss of what this could be... the vid i made is in the process of loading but i will put it up as soon as it loads... any help is greatly appreciated

Night Shifter · Dec 1, 2009

ok vid is up...maybe this will help a little

broke.flv video by NightShifter6 - Photobucket

tag4car · Dec 1, 2009

weird, i didn't hear an injector prime sound

wmburns · Dec 1, 2009

Has the battery been tested? Todays cars/alternators will NOT work without a partially working battery.

The battery is needed to excite the alternator field coil. If the battery is totally dead, there is no power to excite the alternator field coil. Therefore, nothing happens when the alternator is turned.

Old time alternators have Magnets and are self exciting. Simply spinning the alternator fast enough will generate power. Todays alternators are not self starting.

The days of jump starting a car with a totally dead battery are gone.

If your battery is very weak, the alternator will NOT generate full power even with the car running. The weak battery will excite the coil and it will begin to work. Once the power level exceeds the strength of the coil, the field will break down. Power output goes to way down/zero. Battery light comes on. The alternator can not recover until the voltage recovers enough to re-excite the coil.

The battery may be so dead that it can not move and engage the starter. Hence the noise heard when the key is turned.

Night Shifter · Dec 1, 2009

wmburns said:
Has the battery been tested? Todays cars/alternators will NOT work without a partially working battery.

The battery is needed to excite the alternator field coil. If the battery is totally dead, there is no power to excite the alternator field coil. Therefore, nothing happens when the alternator is turned.

Old time alternators have Magnets and are self exciting. Simply spinning the alternator fast enough will generate power. Todays alternators are not self starting.

The days of jump starting a car with a totally dead battery are gone.

If your battery is very weak, the alternator will NOT generate full power even with the car running. The weak battery will excite the coil and it will begin to work. Once the power level exceeds the strength of the coil, the field will break down. Power output goes to way down/zero. Battery light comes on. The alternator can not recover until the voltage recovers enough to re-excite the coil.

The battery may be so dead that it can not move and engage the starter. Hence the noise heard when the key is turned.

Posted via Mobile Device the battery is only about 4 months old...im getting full juice to my lights and radio and everything else that runs off of it...this is why i am stumped...its frustrating the hell out of me though...even if it was the battery, why was i getting a ticking and a squeel from the accessories? maybe i have the worst luck ever and somehow dropped a rod or something and the motor siezed...not a likely situation on my motor but could that cause the ño start issue? i have no clue what is going on...

Night Shifter · Dec 1, 2009

tag4car said:
weird, i didn't hear an injector prime sound

Posted via Mobile Device have any ideas on what that could mean?

tag4car · Dec 1, 2009

after going back i can hear the fp at 12sec in, have you tried anything starter related? what about engine compartment fuses?

Night Shifter · Dec 1, 2009

tag4car said:
after going back i can hear the fp at 12sec in, have you tried anything starter related? what about engine compartment fuses?

Posted via Mobile Device fuses in the engine compartment and under the dash are all good... i pulled every one of them and checked them...as for the starter i have not checked cause with lt's i know thats going to be a horrible nightmare...and i thought the banging noise was the starter, no? plus i didnt think it going bad would shut the car off i could be very wrong?

tag4car · Dec 2, 2009

i had wondered if maybe the gear on the starter had jammed or something, Have you asked MPH about any of this?

joshjwc9 · Dec 2, 2009

Go back and change both terminals. Also, have your battery tested at the local parts store. I think that the battery isn't sending enough juice to turn the starter over enough to get the car started. What battery did you replace your old one with? If it isn't a PITA return it and get it replaced just for piece of mind.

fast97gt · Dec 2, 2009

sometimes pulling fuses and "looking" at them to see if there good doesnt cut it, idont claim to be a prfessional mech. but i always test them with a test light while there plugged in to make sure they are carrying power from one side to another.

wmburns · Dec 2, 2009

Battery is dead

Guys this is almost silly. It is obvious that the battery is dead/discharged. The other clue is the cluster lights. They go out when the key is turned.

The battery may be brand new. It is dead now. Does this mean it is bad? NO! There still may be a problem with the alternator. Remember, the car was operated for an extended period of time with the battery light on. The battery would have been discharging the entire time.

Get a volt ohm meter. Test the battery voltage. Next turn the key on. Measure the voltage. Report the results.

Put a charger on the battery or take to to the auto parts store.

Once there is a good battery in the car, we can start working on the other problem(s).

While waiting, check fuse F1.5 (15a) in the Central junction box (CJB).

Clean the top of the battery. Clean the battery terminals.

Night Shifter · Dec 2, 2009

im going to go out today and have the battery tested just to make sure... then if thats not the problem, im going to get a volt ohm meter...where do i buy one?

and tag, if the battery/alt isnt the problem im definatly calling MPH....it seemed to have started after the new tune anyway...

if the starter got jammed and i have to replace it, have you guys heard anything good/bad about the mini type starters? i think theyre from PA Racing or something like that...

twogts4us · Dec 2, 2009

You can get a Multimeter almost anywhere...I bought a decent one at Sears...they have em as low as $11.99.

Night Shifter · Dec 2, 2009

sweet thanks...i was thinking they were expensive...looks like i have a trip to sears ahead of me....in the snow lol

Night Shifter · Dec 2, 2009

wmburns said:
Guys this is almost silly. It is obvious that the battery is dead. The other clue is the cluster lights. They go out when the key is turned.

The battery may be brand new. It is dead. Does this mean it is bad? NO! There still may be a problem with the alternator. Remember, the car was operated for an extended period of time with the battery light on. The battery would have been discharging the entire time.

Get a volt ohm meter. Test the battery voltage. Next turn the key on. Measure the voltage. Report the results.

Put a charger on the battery or take to to the auto parts store.

Once there is a good battery in the car, we can start working on the other problem(s).

oh i forgot to ask...when i test the battery voltage with the volt ohm meter, do i just touch it to the positive terminal? im new at things like this...ive never gotten into the whole electrical part of cars...i can install just about anything on a car by myself but tell me to put something lik a radio in a car and ill just be standing there scratching my head lol

wmburns · Dec 2, 2009

Set the meter on DC volts and a scale suitable for 12 volts. Red terminal on the positive battery. Black terminal on the negative battery. Record the number.

Might be helpful to use clips so that you do not have to hold the meter (or have a buddy do it). Attempt to crank the car. Record the lowest voltage while cranking. Anything less than about 9 volts means the battery can not keep up.

Optionally, take out the battery and the alternator. Go to you local auto parts store. Ask for a test of each. If taking out the alternator is too much work, then take the battery.

Final option, but a battery charger on it. Try again after a few hours. This is a stop gap measure as the battery may still be weak/bad.

Just to be sure, check fuse F1.5 (15a) in the Central junction box (CJB).

Night Shifter · Dec 2, 2009

good news, i found out that i have a multimeter...its 20 years old but had never been used... will that work? it looks like this

as for the alternator test, i took it to napa and they said it was good... they never told me voltage or anything like that...just that it was good

ill go and do the volt test in a few minutes...i already took the battery out...crappy thing is that it is snowing out now...yay

thanks for the quick multimeter schooling wm

twogts4us · Dec 2, 2009

That meter will work fine. SNOW? Where are you at in WV? I don't see any snow on the map...

Night Shifter · Dec 2, 2009

right outside of beckley...yeah the other day it called for rain and it was an effing blizzard lol

ok did the test...the battery was reading 10.5-10.8 consistantly... had my girlfriend start(well try to start) the car as i was holding the probes... right as she turned the key the voltage dropped to 9.something then straight to 5.25 and hovered in the 5's

im guessing i need to have my battery charged

oh and to check my fuses with this thing how do i do it? thanks

car is broke need help!! vid

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