stalling with electrical load
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stalling with electrical load
Ok I thought I fixed this problem but its back. I had a high bouncy idle (which I guess was masking this electrical issue) but I got that smoothed out today. Now when I'm idling and turn on the parking lights, headlights, or rear defroster the car stalls. Doesn't stall with the radio on though. Earlier today I was turning the AC on and off and it was running fine but a few minutes ago I tried it and it stalled.
If i hold the revs up i can turn everything on and keep it on. If i rev to 3 grand for a couple seconds and let off the revs will come back down and idle for a second and then slowly drop and die. The car starts right back up every time. I didn't seem to notice the brightness of the lights being dependent on the rpms at all. I checked the wire going from the alt to battery and it read 3 volts (which seems normal from what i read in another thread). The battery reads 12.9 volts while off and 13.8 volts while sitting at idle with no accessories on.
I replaced the alternator with a used one i got from fritz about a month or two ago and the battery is less than 6 months old. I put a 51r battery in but I don't see why that would make a difference. I also added a few grounding wires in the engine bay the other day.
To me the symptoms seem like a bad alternator. But if that was the case why is the battery fully charged with the car off and why does it start back up every time? Do you guys have any insight on this?
If i hold the revs up i can turn everything on and keep it on. If i rev to 3 grand for a couple seconds and let off the revs will come back down and idle for a second and then slowly drop and die. The car starts right back up every time. I didn't seem to notice the brightness of the lights being dependent on the rpms at all. I checked the wire going from the alt to battery and it read 3 volts (which seems normal from what i read in another thread). The battery reads 12.9 volts while off and 13.8 volts while sitting at idle with no accessories on.
I replaced the alternator with a used one i got from fritz about a month or two ago and the battery is less than 6 months old. I put a 51r battery in but I don't see why that would make a difference. I also added a few grounding wires in the engine bay the other day.
To me the symptoms seem like a bad alternator. But if that was the case why is the battery fully charged with the car off and why does it start back up every time? Do you guys have any insight on this?
Last edited by mmaluso; 08-25-07 at 07:10 PM.
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So if the alternator is the culprit wouldn't the headlights/accessories use voltage directly from the battery? And wouldn't this drain the battery? I guess i just don't understand why i can keep starting the car right back up and have a fully charged battery.
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Took out the alternator today and had it checked. They said it was fine. I guess I will put it back in and make sure the the belt is tight and grounds are good but beyond that what else is there to check?
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Ok this is driving me nuts. I put the alternator back in and and pulled off some of the grounding points and scraped a ring of paint off before reinstalling them. Started the car and it was idling fine. Turned the ac on, turned the lights on... everything worked perfect. Went for a drive... car drove fine except for when the idle dips when i put the clutch in and the AC is on (i haven't wired in the clutch switch so this is expected). Pull back into my neighborhood, park the car and let it idle. Its idling fine. Flip the parking lights on and the idle dips really low and I have to immediately flip them off to avoid a stall. Same thing with the AC. Why the hell would it work at the beginning of the drive and not the end?! I think I might have to just take it into the shop.
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Me Too!!!
I guess im having the same exact problems as you, I've gone step by step in the factory service manual and always have a f&^%$^&&* idle problem. I am an ASE certified mech. and have probably spent hundreds of hours troubleshooting. I've added grounds and cleaned grounds and checked the tps, alt, bat, leaks etc... but I have not checked the ECU in depth the BAC does read 13 ohms (above factory specs) and does seam to do something different all the time. This valve works on a MHZ frequency so small movements are crucial. Any one elses imput would be greatly appreciated on this subject because we all seam to be facing it in one way or the other, post are great but seam to be repetitive I'm going to start thinking outside the Box. There has to be a way around this problem. This web site is awsome, let it live!
norevlimit
norevlimit
#9
2/4 wheel cornering fiend
Ok this is driving me nuts. I put the alternator back in and and pulled off some of the grounding points and scraped a ring of paint off before reinstalling them. Started the car and it was idling fine. Turned the ac on, turned the lights on... everything worked perfect. Went for a drive... car drove fine except for when the idle dips when i put the clutch in and the AC is on (i haven't wired in the clutch switch so this is expected). Pull back into my neighborhood, park the car and let it idle. Its idling fine. Flip the parking lights on and the idle dips really low and I have to immediately flip them off to avoid a stall. Same thing with the AC. Why the hell would it work at the beginning of the drive and not the end?! I think I might have to just take it into the shop.
First, you need to hook up the clutch switch; while this may not be the root of your problem, it's not helping matters to have something disconnected that should be.
I don't have an FSM in front of me right now (and won't for a while), but the problem is that the ECU doesn't know that you've put an additional alternator load on the engine, so it stalls at idle with the lights or A/C on. Activating the A/C or anything that puts a load on the electrical system like lights or rear window defroster, etc, triggers a switch that tells the ECU to boost the idle to handle the extra load. Try to troubleshoot it from that perspective.
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Isnt it the ISC that boosts the idle? If so I already cleaned and tested that.
#11
2/4 wheel cornering fiend
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