Electrical problems. out of ideas.
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Teching In
Joined: Nov 2009
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Electrical problems. out of ideas. Hey guys. I bought a '98 SS about two months ago and i love the car. but ever since about a week after i got the car ive been having a problem with the battery being dead. my first thought was when i popped the hood and looked at the battery it was probably just shot. so i took it to the garage where i used to work and tested it and it was done for. so i picked up a new one and through it in there thinking thatd solve my problem. a week later it was dead again. this time i got to looking at the ground strap and it was all corroded and looked terrible so i replaced that. well here i am roughly a month later and everyonce in awhile ill go to get in and go somewhere and its deader than dead. i can jump it and itll be just fine and good to go, i can drive somewhere three blocks or 20 miles away shut it off and itll fire right back up the next time. or sometimes it wont.
also something weird is that it always seems on long road trips this will happen too. ill be driving down the road and the first thing i notice is the radio starts cutting out and sounding weak. then ill look at the dash and brake and abs inop light will come on, and a couple minutes later the radio will shut off. if i dont start shutting everything off i can it will get worse. one time i had every light on thats in the dash the radio was off and it kicked me off cruise control. but if i just keep driving with everything shut off those lights will go back off and the radio will come back on and everything works perfect. i really dont know where to look. any help will be deeply appreciated as this is my only way of getting around right now.
also something weird is that it always seems on long road trips this will happen too. ill be driving down the road and the first thing i notice is the radio starts cutting out and sounding weak. then ill look at the dash and brake and abs inop light will come on, and a couple minutes later the radio will shut off. if i dont start shutting everything off i can it will get worse. one time i had every light on thats in the dash the radio was off and it kicked me off cruise control. but if i just keep driving with everything shut off those lights will go back off and the radio will come back on and everything works perfect. i really dont know where to look. any help will be deeply appreciated as this is my only way of getting around right now.
+1 on the alternator. sounds like your alternator isn't putting out near enough to keep your battery supported. that's why the longer trips are giving you the problems. take a multi meter start her up and crank it to about 2k rpm's. see how many volts you're gettin at your battery. you should get between 13.5-14.5. good luck and i hope you diagnose the problem.
Last edited by thirdgengta350; Jan 14, 2010 at 12:15 AM. Reason: damn i wish i could spell lol.
