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Spontaneous Power Loss

Old Aug 27, 2022 | 12:15 PM
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Default Spontaneous Power Loss

Good Day,

I'm fairly new to the LS world. I started building my 68 Chevelle Malibu 5.5 years ago and just got it back from paint. Car was virtually complete before it went to paint so needless to say I was stoked to get it back a week ago.


I have an LS-525 cruise & connect kit. As in the title, I've been having complete power loss. Car starts great and runs great for about 15 ish minutes and while driving it absolutely loses all power. Try to restart and there's nothing. I Wait for a bit of time and she starts but for only 15-20 seconds just long enough for me to put it in gear and punch it to get me to a safe place and wait for a tow truck

So here's my initial problem. I didn't realize that my starter had a builtin in solenoid, so during the build, I installed a remote one. I took the exciter wire from the ignition to the remote solenoid then to the starter. I've since removed the remote solenoid and have no issues with starting except right after it bails on me. Only time I have issues is if the car has been running for a short time.

Just before my car dies, I see some flickering lights in my tach gauge. Its those small yellow lights that start to light up as you approach redline. Then it dies. It won't turnover or nothing. My first thought was the alternator. I removed it, had it load tested and found it wouldn't start charging until 3000 rpm, so my battery was taking a s*** kicking so I replaced it. I have also replaced the alternator. Old one was only rated for 140A, new one is 240A. I checked voltage before and after replacing the alternator, before it was 9.8V, hence no charging, and after trying to drive it, it was 12.8V which is great.

I got an OBD2 reader to check for codes. Never used one before. As soon as I plugged it into the DTC connector from the engine harness, the message that pops up says; "No powertrain DTC's or freeze frame data is presently stored in the vehicles computer". I'm assuming DTC means drivetrain codes?? So if that's what it means, I guess that's a good thing.

Its very very frustrating that after the car sitting for a bit of time, it starts. Its like it resets itself until it stall again.

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp Anyone out there ever experience this same issue. Thanks in advance.

Perry


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Old Aug 27, 2022 | 12:29 PM
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Check for any connections getting hot, or undersized wiring. Something is getting hot somewhere.
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Old Aug 27, 2022 | 04:09 PM
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Thanks for the reply. I'm beginning to think you're right. Below is an account of what I did to day.

Spent a lot of time tracing wires and specifically grounds. As far as I can fine all is good. So I decided to start the car and let
It run for 30 mins. Here’s an account of what happened.

After 12 minutes stereo cut out, engine hesitated but kept going. Rad fans are cutting in and out.

At 17 min stereo cut out again but engine did not hesitate. Temp under the hood is 138F surface temp on the ecu

Engine temp is floating between 190-200 with fans cutting in and out. I have two fans. One controlled by the ecu and comes on 200F. I have another controlled by a temp probe in the rad fins. My thought this would be a backup if ecu one failed. Plus my AC compressor turns my backup fan on

At 19 minutes the tach gauge light flickered on the tach went to zero the stereo shut off then everything resume to normal
At 24 minutes I rev'd engine hard, stereo cut out 2 minutes later, gauge light flickered and engine almost stalled but recovered

At 30 minutes ecu surface temp is 152F. But the hood was open for last 10 min. It could have got a bit warmer. Header temp was 310FHeader is approx. Attached photo show my ecu's at the upper left corner. Roughly 10-12" away from header. Do LS ecu's have built in over temp protection?

Perry


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