i apologize for the life story before hand haha...

Over the weekend me and my friend decided to fix and replace a few things on my 98 Trans Am.. I got new wires and decided to redo my 02 extensions by having them solder instead of crimped like they have been for the past couple of months. so we finished up all that car started right up, when i got onto the road i decided to open it up got sideways and shifted up around 5100rpms and heard a weird noise and didn't think much of it, but then when i got to the next light i noticed my car was missing and idling really ruff so i pulled over and popped the hood and saw my number 6 plug was arching against the header so i stumbled it back home and kinda poked at it with a screw driver so i just figured i didn't put it on tight so didn't think much over fixed it all and when to bed... wake up the following morning and the car doesn't start, i could barely hear the fuel pump prime so i had my dad jump me and it started right up then the volts just crashed probably down around 10, Now last week i had this same sorta problem and went and had the Alternator
checked and it checked out fine so i just cleaned the connections and havent had any problems for the entire week.. So with all that said i got it jumped and went on long drive to mybe recharge the battery and it worked volts stayed around 13 intil i was driving home today and the volts crashed again to 10 and everything turned really dim so i pulled into the garage and it died so i got another jump from my dad and took it around the block and the volts went below 8 and everything turned off it barely made it back home it was backfiring every 2seconds and the rpms were mybe 200 at most ...


So with alllllll that said i think its a alternator but i want some feed back cuz iam not looking forward to go buy a new Alternator

 

Check the wiring at the alternator, etc. Generally the alternator won't be intermittent and if it was charging at 13 volts and then dropped, it sounds like a loose connection somewhere.

 

+1 to loose connection

alternators don't fail intermitently

 

Maybe your o2 sensors or extensions you had soldered.........when my o2 sensor went out my car did the same thing

 

It caused the volts to go flux? Hmm interesting how many miles were on them?

 

Now i just went and got my battery tested and it came back it had a bad cell so i got a new battery... the car starts now just the volts wont move past 10 and everything is kinda dim and the car seems to be missing slightly

 

O2'S had 46k miles......I thought it was the battery or alternator, replaced both o2's and the problem went away

 

is there a way to check? and would the rear 02 sensors work upfront? Because i still my old rear 02's from when i had cats

 

My Z28 has been doing the same thing recently. I haven't touched any of the wires though . . .

Last week I noticed the voltmeter read around 10 volts, I immediately thought . . . alternator. The parts store was already closed so I waited until the next day, but when I started it the next day it was fine!

I thought I was out of the woods . . . until this week. I was about 30 miles from home and the same thing happened. I almost made it all the way home on the battery . . .

Anyways, I pulled the alternator, had it tested, and it passed with flying colors. I had the battery tested, it had a bad cell. Install new battery, starts fine, still around 10 volts though . . .

I would like to try to replace the 02 sensors, but it doesn't seem logical. Is there any way to diagnose the bad sensor? Why wouldn't it throw a code?