A few months ago I was racing an Integra, top end in 4th gear, when all of my emergency lights, idiot lights and power-steering stopped working. By the next day my car wouldn't hold idle and would eventually die. My 'main' fuse had blown and my alternator belt broke...

Yesterday while coming home from work on a hot day, listening to my stereo for an hour (w. two amps), as traffic began speeding up, I redlined it in 3rd gear and experienced boost cut. A couple exits down the road the freeway got slow again and I noticed that my power-steering didn't work. I immediately knew something was wrong so I began trying to merge over to get off the freeway. (Of course everyone in this world is a dick, so no one let me over) I noticed that my car was beginning to buck slightly so I finally just forced my way off. As I was coming off the exit I had to compression start my car like 4 or 5 times just to keep it idleing. Luckily, there was a beggar standing there, so when my car died he offered to help me push it down the road to a safe parking spot. He coughed and asked for a few bucks... Whatever, I gave him a few. Anyways, after getting it towed home, I checked the fuse; it's fine. Also the alternator belt is intact too... I jumped my car this morning, hoping it was all a bad dream, but after idleing fine for a minute, it started getting inconsistent and weak before finally dying. I tried to turn it over and my alarm just gurgled a bit of half-hearted protest. My car won't hold a charge... What could be wrong?

BTW, I have a mechanically stock '88 Turbo II

 

as far as I know if your alternator was dead you wouldn't be able to start your car.

This sounds like electrical problem.

find out if you have a short somewhere. Your electrical wiring might be bad.

good luck

 

If you can't start the car again and get a voltage output reading from the alt, pull it & take it to a place that can check it out for you...if you find that the alt's good, then proceed with further troubleshooting...how old is the battery?

 

Sounds like you've got a Vac leak some where and an electrical problem.

The powr steering is mechanical and is by itself. It has no connection to the engine except the belt.

Boost cut is not good at any time.....

Bucking sounds like a compression/engine problem.
Mine bucked a bit when it blew a coolant seal but went away after a few minutes since the chambers cleaered of coolant and started firing.

The electrical thing is odd. Time to get a multimeter out and start checking voltages and draws.

An alternator would not really cause this.

A bad alt will kill off your radio first and will slowly dim your lights until it fully drains your battery.

check the voltage on the battery. You should see 12.5 ish when off and 14.5ish when running.

 

Sorry for not mentioning this (forgot), but the first thing to go was my CD player. It started flickering on and off. I tried to turn it "off" (although the screen saver is still on), but it just died. I felt my amps and they didn't feel hot.

I'm pretty sure that I don't have a vac. leak, this situation was a pretty isolated event. In any other circumstance the car runs and holds idle perfectly.

I've never done this, so I don't know: How do you check the voltage of the battery/alternator? What tool should I buy?

Thanks, anyone else like to offer any suggestions.

I still think it might be the alternator.

 

yep, sounds like the alt went & took the battery with it 20 min. later....you NEED a multimeter!!!

 

by the way how high is your sound system.
how many watts?

maby the person who installed te sound system cross wired something.

 

Wrong, you battery is solely responsible for starting and running the car, and the alt just recharges the battery when necessary.

 

just take your altenator/and battery to autozone and have them check it. Charge your battery before you go to make sure it will even hold a charge.

Also, depending on the power of your stereo system, your alt. might not be able to keep up. You may look into upgraded alt. or something.

 

Well, turns out it was my 'aternator' (lol).

I was all downcast this morning thinking I was either gonna have to get my car towed for $$, to a shop to have them fix it for $$, or I was going to have to trouble-shoot my electrical system with a tool I didn't have and don't know how to use...

I don't know why I didn't think about this yesterday, but I have a dead '87 N/A in front of my house with an alternator that worked (a year and a half ago). Anyways, I went out there, removed it with very minor set-backs. I Brought it up to my TII and compared the setup; the TII has the TMIC, so it was a little harder getting the thing unplugged, and there were a couple other differences, but an hour and a half later I'm happily typing on my computer listening to my car pleasantly idle out behind my house. YEAH!

Thank you everyone for the responses, I'm gonna... Leave my house!

 

OK yeah the radio flickering is the first sign. Mine would die when I hit the brakes since it added more power drain.

At least it was something easy.

Now go buy a new Alt with a lifetime warranty so they are free later on. Our systems are already taxed so it will probably die out later on.

Both of my FC's did.