Weird problem with car.
Weird problem with car. Recently had a new motor and turbo 400 put in. Drove fine for the first 200 miles. Then today when I got in the car, I noticed the trip odometer was reset. I couldn't remember doing it, so I thought it was a bit odd. Then at one point I was at low rpm's with the steering wheel turned all the way, and the car dies.(because of the large cam) I go to start it, and it isn't cranking. Nothing at all. Lights are dead as well. I check the battery, and the positive connection to the battery was loose and wasn't making a good conection. So I retight it, and go to start the car. Now I have power, but the car cant crank. It makes a clicking sound, but cant crank. So now I think that battery has enough power to turn the lights and radio on, but not enough power to make the starter work. So I have it jumped, but it doesn't do anything. I guess the battery was fully charged, but all it did when you went to start it was it would click. I tryed a couple more times, and all it would do is click. Then my buddy went in the car, and tryed shifting my th400 a couple of times, while trying to start the car, and after a couple of minutes the car started up. Drove perfect, then parked it when I arrived to my destination. When I got back in teh car later, it did the same thing, wouldn't start. It would just click, but not crank. I tryed a couple of times, and gave up. Then my buddy mest with the trans a couple of times, and it started just fine. Any ideas of what it can be? I am thinking that either the starter is going, or its wires aren't making a good conection. Something that I just realized is that it may be the neutral safety switch wire. Anyone have any other input? Thanks
Thanks for the reply. Well today the problem with the car not starting went away, but I think you may be right about not having a good connection. The pcm and trip odometer reset themselves everytime the car turns off for more than 30 minutes. I know that the pcm resets itself because I am throwing a SES, and it clears itself whenever the car turns of. And the pcm has to relearn the idle every time the car is off longer than 30 minutes. I think I will go to Pepboys or something and buy those things that connect the battery to the top with those two poles, not the little stock terminals.
I bought a new Optima red top battery, and installed it. The problem seemed to go away for a couple of days, but then came back, but was a bit different now. I checked the wires that connect to the battery, and the positive one was so rusted and I was sure that was the problem. So I went to Sears and bought new cables to use, and then realized that the cables that I bought weren't long enough, and didn't have enough wires coming out of them. The one on now has 3 wires coming out of it, but the one I got from sears has 2. So I just improvised and put a sanding attachment on my Dremel,and sanded it down until it was smooth and rust free. Then I went and bought a little bolt to replace the rusted factory one. I tryed it, car started fine. I let it idle for 10 minutes. As soon as I release the parking brake and the headlights go on, the car dies. It didn't have any power at all. No lights went on, and it wouldn't crank at all. I loosed the cable, and if I would touch it to the positive terminal, it wouldn't give any spark at all. I then loosened the negative to see if somethings wrong with that. I connected it back, connected the positive, and then the car had power..I dont get it. Then every time I would shut the car off, my trip odometer would reset on its own. It stopped doing that for the last 2 days and I have put around 75 miles on it without it resetting. Do you guys have any advice on I can check for? I still have the original negative terminal and bolt, but that wasn't rusted or corroded at all like the positive one was. Thanks for any replys!
ps. sorry that its a lot of reading, but I'm trying to include all the info possible so someone can have an idea of what the problem can be.
ps. sorry that its a lot of reading, but I'm trying to include all the info possible so someone can have an idea of what the problem can be.
TECH Addict
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 2,245
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From: Top of 4th Gear; Plano, TX
I had an electrical leak, or so I though on my car....car would start, etc. I replaced the dead battery with a Red Top and problem persisted. Turns out my sound system was a power drainer and I bought a Capacitor (2 ohm) and it fixed the drain on the battery. Mine used to reset the trip to so you're not getting the juice you need from somewhere.
