Driving to work this morning all my gauges, except the speedo, stopped working. Then I had an annoying beeping/chirping sound coming at me until I pounded on the dash to get it to stop. Anybody have the answer as to why this happened? Must be a fuse or wiring or something like that? I've had many other problems before but never this one.

 

Be sure that the 2-plug wire behind the alternator is connected. Thats a common issue.

 

Sounds like alternator.

 

Thanks guys, will check that when I get home this evening.

 

Banging on the dash is always a good solution. Not.


Check the meter fuse under the dash.

 

All the above are possible, I myself have had this symptom but my problem was a broken alternator belt (you would probably have heard it shred itself if that was the issue) but theres always the possibility.

 

Well, pounding on the dash did stop the annoying noise though. Anyway, when I came out of work I jiggled a couple of wires to the alternator and got in the car. Everything worked all the way home. Must be a loose wire or connection.

 

Just hope banging on the dash didn't permantly disable the whatever was buzzing.

 

Well I only banged on it twice and if I never hear that noise again that will be fine with me. The car works fine now. I do think it is the one connection near the alternator.

 

Well, it started again today. The gauges stopped again, the alarm sound was and that was it. Then when trying to get the battery terminals off to check some wires I think I damaged the battery. When I hooked everything back up the car would not start and the battery smelled like bad eggs. Soooooo... the car is dead at the moment. I checked the wires to the alternator (which is pretty new) and nothing. Any ideas???

 

Sounds like you might have grounded the hot battery terminal with a tool while trying to remove the positive terminal before unhooking the ground terminal (always remove the negative ground first).

The battery may still be good, you are just smelling the results of temporarily grounding your battery directly to the frame. If on the other hand you managed to ground through a wire connecting to the frame or engine, that wire and whatever is connected to it is probably toast and will need to be replaced.

Check the battery with a voltmeter, if you didn't burn it out with the grounding issue, it may still be OK. If so inspect and clean up the battery connections and other terminal to and from the battery. From your general symptoms it sounds like you probably have a few weak electrical connections.

If it's worse than that, only Doc and trochoid can help you.

 

What you're smelling is the sulfuric acid in the battery that has turned to a gaseous state. Could be from the alt not charging the battery or overcharging the battery. One needs to be careful when removing battery terminal cables as too much force can twist the post and break the internal conection with the plates. If that happens, the battery is toast. Be a little more gentle with your car, it will like you better for it and hopefully return the kindness.

Check the battery, alt and battery cable connections. If the battery has inspection covers for fluid level, check that. Add only de-ionized/distilled water. Also wear safety glasses for eye protection, blind people can't drive well. If the fluid level is low, the battery will need a slow recharge as the added fluid will kill the charge n the battery.

Also keep in mind that if you're smelling the battery gases, the vapor is full of hydrogen gas too, very explosive, be careful not to generate any sparks or open flames, no smoking.