help needed with gauges.
Thread Starter
12 Second Club
iTrader: (13)
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 2,417
Likes: 3
From: St. Peters, MO
help needed with gauges. okay so the other night, car died and i got a jump, started right up. i drove about 5 minutes and turned it off again, cuz i knew my friend could jump me since the battery probably didnt get alot of charge from that. we got to jump it after an hour of being off and it wont start, even after trying to jump. my friend says "oh i got the cables wrong on my car" so he switched them and i tried again but this time NO gauges (except oil pres.), radio or anything work except gauge backlights & reading lights. i look at his car and he had the cables wired wrong! + to - and - to +, idk how he did that. so then we swtiched back and car still will not start. we ended up pop starting it, roll whatever you wanna call it (pop the cltuch when rolling) and it started up, drove home fine.
today i go to try and start it, just clicks after i hear it try to crank. i jumped it off my moms car, starts up so i went to drive it around to charge up battery, didnt work, but will still pop start. with the except of the oil pres., no gauges work, backlights still do though, but no radio no clock though.
one month ago, at most, i bought a brand new battery and starter. read the battery today against friends with same battery and car actually his reading 13 volts and change, mine had barely 12. starter should be fine since it works when jumped. so what the heck is going on here? could the wire crossing have blown a fuse or a few and thats what it is? so far, me and everyone ive talked to is thinking battery but im not 100% positive. any ideas here...im lost
all help is appreciated!
today i go to try and start it, just clicks after i hear it try to crank. i jumped it off my moms car, starts up so i went to drive it around to charge up battery, didnt work, but will still pop start. with the except of the oil pres., no gauges work, backlights still do though, but no radio no clock though.
one month ago, at most, i bought a brand new battery and starter. read the battery today against friends with same battery and car actually his reading 13 volts and change, mine had barely 12. starter should be fine since it works when jumped. so what the heck is going on here? could the wire crossing have blown a fuse or a few and thats what it is? so far, me and everyone ive talked to is thinking battery but im not 100% positive. any ideas here...im lost
all help is appreciated!
Thread Starter
12 Second Club
iTrader: (13)
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 2,417
Likes: 3
From: St. Peters, MO
i did talk to my friend who works for a dealership after i posted this last night and he said it could be the battery not charging the alt. too. what would cause that? bad alt?
If the alternator is starting to go out, it may not give the battery a full charge. If your battery is a month old, it would be rare that it would have a problem at this point - so yes, I would guess that your alternator is bad. (And the gauges are known to shut down if the alternator isn't putting out like it should.)
With the car off, a perfect battery should be around 12.8 volts. With the car on, you should read more than 13 volts, as the alternator puts out a higher voltage to the system when the car is running. If your numbers are less than you should probably take your alternator in to a parts store, where they can test it for you. If your numbers are right on, there is probably some other issue.
With the car off, a perfect battery should be around 12.8 volts. With the car on, you should read more than 13 volts, as the alternator puts out a higher voltage to the system when the car is running. If your numbers are less than you should probably take your alternator in to a parts store, where they can test it for you. If your numbers are right on, there is probably some other issue.
Thread Starter
12 Second Club
iTrader: (13)
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 2,417
Likes: 3
From: St. Peters, MO
If the alternator is starting to go out, it may not give the battery a full charge. If your battery is a month old, it would be rare that it would have a problem at this point - so yes, I would guess that your alternator is bad. (And the gauges are known to shut down if the alternator isn't putting out like it should.)
With the car off, a perfect battery should be around 12.8 volts. With the car on, you should read more than 13 volts, as the alternator puts out a higher voltage to the system when the car is running. If your numbers are less than you should probably take your alternator in to a parts store, where they can test it for you. If your numbers are right on, there is probably some other issue.
With the car off, a perfect battery should be around 12.8 volts. With the car on, you should read more than 13 volts, as the alternator puts out a higher voltage to the system when the car is running. If your numbers are less than you should probably take your alternator in to a parts store, where they can test it for you. If your numbers are right on, there is probably some other issue.
