Help! All guages and Idiot lights went out.
Help! All guages and Idiot lights went out. My car has been running fine lately. Tonight I pull in to get gas and turned the ignition to the acc position, so the wife could listen to the radio. After getting gas, I got in the car and turned the ignition past the off position and everthing died, It didn't have power to anything, I checked all the fuses and all were ok. I then tried to start it again and noticed interior lights were barely on. So i jumped the car and it started right up, everthing seemed to work normal again. I got about 7 miles down the road and all the idiot lights started flashing and the guage needles (except oil pres and volts) swept back and forth and went all the way down and stayed. Then the car started to stumble a little. I was almost home so I continued home. After parking the car I tried to restart it, and nothing happened no lights or anything. I will replace the battery tomorrow. Question is, did I hurt it by driving it the rest of the way home? Sorry about the lenght but, tried to be detailed. Thanks for any help.
Eric
Eric
Launching!
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 232
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From: Florida
I had something similiar happen to me not too long ago. I was coming home from school and all my gauges went out, they all went to zero, everything tunred off. I checked all the fuses, all were fine. I looked at my battery terminals and one of them was loose. I called my dad to bring some tools out, we tightened it back up and it started right up. My car ran fine after that even though I was coasting along at 60 mph for about a 1/8 mile or so maybe a little further. I think you will be alright. Good luck with it.
TECH Senior Member
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Joined: Nov 2001
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From: Gainesville, Denton TX
Did you check the fuses under the hood, aswell as those on the side of the dash on the drivers side?
Check the fuse inside on the dash, 3rd one from the top, its red, make sure its perfect, as it controls the gauge cluster.
As far as replacing the battery, I'd have it checked, aswell as the alt. First. That is, unless you have a spare you can check with before dropping money on a new battery.
Where was the car stumbling/acting up at? lower rpms, or where? I seriously doubt you hurt anything. To me it sounds like the alt may be going bad, if it started acting up on the way home. The battery has enough power to keep the car running for a short period of time if the alt. is bad or going out.
Check the fuse inside on the dash, 3rd one from the top, its red, make sure its perfect, as it controls the gauge cluster.
As far as replacing the battery, I'd have it checked, aswell as the alt. First. That is, unless you have a spare you can check with before dropping money on a new battery.
Where was the car stumbling/acting up at? lower rpms, or where? I seriously doubt you hurt anything. To me it sounds like the alt may be going bad, if it started acting up on the way home. The battery has enough power to keep the car running for a short period of time if the alt. is bad or going out.
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 1,501
Likes: 7
From: Ft. Irwin, California (But Virginia is home)
Originally Posted by SSHADOW
My car has been running fine lately. Tonight I pull in to get gas and turned the ignition to the acc position, so the wife could listen to the radio. After getting gas, I got in the car and turned the ignition past the off position and everthing died, It didn't have power to anything, I checked all the fuses and all were ok. I then tried to start it again and noticed interior lights were barely on. So i jumped the car and it started right up, everthing seemed to work normal again. I got about 7 miles down the road and all the idiot lights started flashing and the guage needles (except oil pres and volts) swept back and forth and went all the way down and stayed. Then the car started to stumble a little. I was almost home so I continued home. After parking the car I tried to restart it, and nothing happened no lights or anything. I will replace the battery tomorrow. Question is, did I hurt it by driving it the rest of the way home? Sorry about the lenght but, tried to be detailed. Thanks for any help.
Eric
Eric
A broken wire to the alternator connection or a bad alternator can cause this prob (as well as a fuse). The alternator is on the driver's side of the car bottom front. You can see the harness connection from the top of the car.
Hope this helps.
Schantin
2002 Camaro Z28 M6
Same thing just happened to my other car, it was due to slightly loose + battery terminal connection, and the cable terminal being corroded. Try cleaning the terminal till you see bright metal.
Battery or Alternator should be the solution. Have someone test your battery that is not biased, ie I've never had a part store say that the battery is good, cause they have a vested interest in it being a bad one. Have someone check it with a Midtronics tester if possible, they are the standard. You can do some self checks with a Voltmeter too. Check Voltage from Pos to Neg on the battery. Then check it again with the car started, if it will start. On a normally operating charging system you should see 12.6 on the battery, and then it should jump to 13.5v or higher while running. On another note, I had a similar problem one time with a shorted Starter solenoid, but that is a more rare condition.
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Well I went out to see if the car would start. Everything was dead. I took the cables off of the battery to clean them. There is acid leaking out the pos terminal so I will be getting a new battery. I also looked at the harness for the alt and didn't see anything that was loose. I jump started the car and everything else seems fine, all of the guages are working again. I let the car idle for about 10 minutes then shut her off. I tried to restart it but nothing, not even a faint dome light came on. When it was running the volt meter was reading about 1 needle width above the 13 volt line. So off I go to get a new battery and I will probablypick up a volt meter to. Thank again for any help you can give.
Eric
Eric
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Verdad Gallardo I think it was just the battery. I used a voltmeter across the battery posts. and got 9.1 volts, Jump started the car and got 14.27 volts across the posts. I cleaned up everything near the battery box with baking soda real good, then put in a new battery with 12.6 volts at the posts. It started right up, idled a little low, but that cleared right up. Measured across the posts again and got 14.25volts. So I assume the alt is working properly. The day it happened, the outside temp was 105dg that day so I guess it decided to bite the dust. That again for the help.
Eric
Eric
