Car sat 2 weeks, battry light flashing.. stalls..

[TopherSho]

I sat the car for two weeks while on vacation.. now the battery light flashes on and off when driving... And when it is on there is a huge drag on the rpm.  It also stalls and tries to die if you stop suddenly. 

1) been running with no accessories.. seems to do it less

2) the cooling fan triggers the light

I will try freeway driving to charge it but am I boned for the sixth time this year with another breakdown?

And to replace the alternator.. is it pulling the motor **AGAIN** ?

 

[StinkinLinkin13]

Check all your grounds and contacts. Test Battery? Seems like low/no charge. Possibly alternator. Check everything else first including fuses. Maxi fuse on battery cable?

 

[TopherSho]

Battery tested out at 960cca, 13.05v

Cleaned the postitive terminal

Left off the negative ground for tonight

Seems to be charging and holding good charge... So it's either the small amount of terminal crud some bull crap ground issue or bad reading on the alternator side.

I hate engine swap in new cars... Always chasing Gremlins for the rest of the cars days...

 

[TopherSho]

Still busted .. Sending it back in again

 

[SHOdded]

Worth checking the fuse for the battery, but yeah, could be an issue at any point in the cabling.  Or the belt, since a/c and alternator are still pulley driven.  Also check the connectors at the PCM, just for laughs.

TBH, you do not have to pull the engine for most work except to a) work on engine internals (cams pistons etc) or b) replace the engine.  Do shops prefer to pull the engine?  Yes.

 

[ZSHO]

Two weeks is the minimum threshold on the battery!
Drive it on the Highway for a good hour plus! Battery tender is ideal for these situations . Z

 

[802SHO]

I keep mine on a tender religiously. 

 

[TopherSho]

Two weeks is the minimum threshold on the battery!
Drive it on the Highway for a good hour plus! Battery tender is ideal for these situations . Z

Even if the battery tested fine and is 4 weeks old?

 

[TopherSho]

Took it out for a night drive.. fml ... headlights waver,  stereo keeps rebooting,  air goes from low speed to high output on highest setting.  battery still testing at 12.98v and 965cc .. so its something in the ALT.

 

[lamrith]

Check car for signs of rodent activity.  2 weeks is long enough they will get in there and start wreaking havoc like chewing wires.

 

[lamrith]

Actually you have a SCT tuner.  Throw it on there and set the readout to show voltage and log voltage as well as you drive.  Will be pretty obvious if the alt is cycling all over the place etc rather than just trying to just chase weird electrical symptoms.

 

[ZSHO]

Two weeks is the minimum threshold on the battery!
Drive it on the Highway for a good hour plus! Battery tender is ideal for these situations . Z

Even if the battery tested fine and is 4 weeks old?

I would try to have a Parasitic Draw test performed! Dunno. Z 

https://youtu.be/FAJeDX-T-Eg

 

[SHOdded]

Maybe replace the battery fuse too.  Cheap enough.

 

[TopherSho]

Alternator ... 700$ ..

 

[StinkinLinkin13]

It was actually bad? Not super common but sh*t happens... 700$!? Yikes!

 

[SHOdded]

probably msrp + labor ... gets expensive in a hurry.  especially if they have to evacuate and refill refrigerant.

 

[TopherSho]

It was actually bad? Not super common but sh*t happens... 700$!? Yikes!

I will get pics but he advised there was some soot on the back,  ie something got hot/shorted.  with that description i was surprised it ran at all and or did not smell like burning money ... its a 200amp unit which also surprised me

 

[SHOdded]

You'd think there would be some symptoms  ...

 

[TopherSho]

You'd think there would be some symptoms  ...

we;; i did remote start it twice before hopping in ... but yeah ..