battery? alternator? fuel pump?

[97snk]

So I've not had much time to drive the car because of finals. Took it out yesterday, almost died but it did start. I thought it could've been the battery since the car sat in the garage for about 2 weeks. The car does have a brand new optima red top battery in it. Well after I get out of gym, I start the car, it starts, I put it in reverse and after two secs it completely dies, nothing works at all...It sits there for a few minutes and everything comes back to normal after a click. drove it home just fine and this morning it did the same thing again...

The car seems to loose power when I start it, all lights get dim and while driving they flicker a lot. I did a search but couldn't narrow the problem down...

 

[Martin]

Battery might be toast - or you need to check your battery connections. The battery connections would be the first thing to check. If it's the battery, fortunately Optima has a really good warranty Some people knock them, but I'm a fan. Sure, I have gone through three or four bad ones that had to be replaced under warranty, but once I got a good one, it's lasted forever. I'm going on eight years now for a Red Top in my GTS - and I don't use a battery tender...

Also check the ground bolt under the power distribution center on the driver's side. Some of your symptoms point toward a bad main ground...

 

[97snk]

Battery might be toast - or you need to check your battery connections. The battery connections would be the first thing to check. If it's the battery, fortunately Optima has a really good warranty Some people knock them, but I'm a fan. Sure, I have gone through three or four bad ones that had to be replaced under warranty, but once I got a good one, it's lasted forever. I'm going on eight years now for a Red Top in my GTS - and I don't use a battery tender...

Also check the ground bolt under the power distribution center on the driver's side. Some of your symptoms point toward a bad main ground...

You are right, it might be the battery connection. I'll check it tonight only if I can get the car jacked up which is always a challenge...

 

[costanZo]

You are right, it might be the battery connection. I'll check it tonight only if I can get the car jacked up which is always a challenge...

Hey man, I actually posted a thread in regards to my car not starting:
http://forums.viperclub.org/rt-10-gts-discussions/636372-my-car-wont-start.html

Although, I know my situation isn't the same as yours, my car did have similar symptoms. As the previous guy mentioned, check the connection on the battery, I noticed my connections were loose, but that still wasn't the entire problem.

I'm not sure if you know this already, but whatever you do, DO NOT jump start the car or use a portable engine starter. Don't really use anything more then 20amps to charge the car. I fried my PCM, which was most likely the cause from jumping it, and I have jumped my car several times in the past and it always worked fine. I guess, this last time I wasn't so lucky.

 

[dave6666]

Wow. 3 or 4 bad ones to get a good one. Killer sales line LOL sign me up

 

[97snk]

Okay I checked the battery connections and they are solid. I drove the car again and it drove just fine. I did notice that when the car is in neutral and i turn my sounds system up the lights start to flikr again but runs fine when in gear. Not sure what that points to? alternator or battery? any ideas?

 

[Martin]

Unless you're running a sound system at full blast with a 2000 watt amp, you shouldn't notice your electricals flickering too much when the sound is up... At low RPMs, your alternator is doing very little, so you're relying on your battery for most of the electrical load. Does the flickering continue when you rev the car up to around 2000 RPM? You don't have to be in gear - you can do that in neutral. Also, if your fan is running and you're running your A/C or blower at full blast, that tends to put the electrical system right at about it's limit at idle (even worse if you have your headlights on). You'll definitely see things flicker when loads are applied.

If you're seeing flickering at high RPMs too, my guess is you have an alternator that's about to give up, or you have another bad connection someplace. As a general principle, whenever I run into electrical weirdness, I always open up the fuse box and make sure all the fuses are well seated. Sometimes you can get one that's a bit loose and will cause all kinds of strange behavior. Also check to make sure the main ground is OK, and the wires to the alternator are well seated.

 

[BlknBlu]

If your car is starting evertime, I would rule out battery. You can try charging it anyway, but it sounds more like an alternator.

Bruce

 

[97snk]

Okay I just figured out what the problem was today and is going to help out someone along with saving them a lot of time and money.

I changed to a brand new battery but car would still start sometimes and wouldn't other times. Had the stereo rewired and ground redone for stereo, issue was still there. Had a shop go through the wiring to make sure it wasn't a loose wire or something of that nature and it wasn't. Today my 19 year old nephew helped me upgrade my rear calipers to toms 40mm and I asked him to take a look at my power loss issue. He's very knowledgeable at his age and had a built dodge ram diesel with over 800rwhp. The first thing he noticed was the ground being a little loose but that wasn't the problem since I had already tightened it before and tested, when he took the bolts off he noticed the corrosion on the terminals. Cleaned it up and car started right up, no flickering lights, no power loss, car feel much much more stronger now. So if you have complete power loss issues please check to make sure there's no corrosion on the terminals.