Super Happy Electrical Gremlin! Update: Defeated!

[Vios-GT_07]

you wouldn't happen to be using a dry-cell type battery are you? those things act silly when they've aged and i've has this exact same problem with my old corolla AE92.. tacho was flicking up and down.. car would sometimes start, sometimes not, sometimes i turn something on like aircon or headlight it would just die.. turns out the battery itself was at fault, not being able to maintain charge and sometimes just sucking up juice .. turns out it was damaged..

also, with those headlights being pop up and that, have u checked that the wiring is good, and no wires are exposed, the headlights are correct wattage and what not? (just to eliminate any other problems?)

[011]

Vios, it's a normal wet battery, and it looks pretty new, too. Headlamps are right - H4 60/55s.

But i'll go over everything this weekend - wires, fuses, test the battery, etc etc.

[ra_28]

I droped cell in battery can give strange symptoms.i haveseen falcons rinning on five cylinders and doing funny things to electrics. Also it could be the main ignition relay dropping out.

[o_man_ra23]

Can I suggest to unplug the headlights from the sockets, and try turning them on. If it drops out then when you turn on the headlights... you have a wiring problem in the headlights and the shorting is doing damage to the battery. If not, your problem is elsewhere... earth quite possibly.

Other than that, take the battery to autobarn and get them to throw it on the battery tester. That will soon tell you if it is doing funny things (and it will give your battery a bit more charge ).

Cheers, Owen

[takai]

I reckon its the terminals. You can have a fine connection for low amperage stuff, but as soon as the amperage climbs then it dies in the arse, this is due to the small connection which you had failing and essentially burning up (for want of a better description).
When you are clamping the battery pack on its probably disturbing it somewhat and you start all over again.

[011]

My list is looking very healthy for Saturday morning diagnostics. *cracks knuckles*

Thanks felluz! I'm still here and listening if anybody else has their two cents to throw into the slipstream fountain.

Edit: o man RA23, the whole car is acting a bit weird - not just the lights. The lights is a symptom but I don't think it's the cause. But I'll have a good look at them, too. Like takai said, the car - for some reason - can't handle a higher amperage draw and is dying because of it.

[011]

UPDATE!

Was a bit bored so I went downstairs to check out the battery itself. My reasoning is that if it's been sitting there for 10 days and was working fine the last time I started it, then it could be a battery issue. The battery is a Century which I have utmost trust in - I've worked with heaps of car batteries before and Century are by far and large one of the best day-to-dayers. I had one in our Pajero that lasted a good eight years (!!), and we only replaced it for fear it could die on us at a really inconvenient time/place, living out in the bush.

Anywho, checked the cells and they were pretty dry. Went hunting in my parts cupboard for the demin water and topped the battery up - it took 250mL of water all up! Well, the battery is dead now and needs recharging. I've got my jump starter charging and will have a go when it's done and let y'all know how it went.

[river]

Hi,

You're kidding me, aren't you?

I would of thought you would of checked the battery levels before your first post. I just assumed that you'd do something that obvious before you called for help.

Oh well, hopefully it helps, but if it's ran out of water and the electrolyte is low it may be totalled and unable to hold a charge.

Let us know how it goes.

seeyuzz
river

[011]

Yeah yeah, simple brainfade, I'm a dooshbag. I had checked the levels the day before I left the car to avoid something like this happening, so I had assumed the levels were fine. There was still water in it - it wasn't completely dry - and I'm hoping it was enough to have stopped the battery from being terminally damaged.

I've had bad luck with mystery electrical problems in the past with former cars. I'm expecting this problem to lie elsewhere from the battery, continuing my 'lucky' streak...

[JBs]

When the alternator died in my MR2, all the dash lights flashed, the car stalled, I was able to start it again, this happened about 3 times on the way home. So it is possible to restart the car and still be the alternator.

[AndyTTR]

Something similar to this was happening to a car I worked on last week - turned out to be the battery (and then running out of fuel). Like yours, the car had been sitting idle for a few months. To eliminate the battery as the problem altogether you should grab a battery from another car (with a higher CCA rating than the one you're using) just to be sure.

It doesn't make sense, but for some reason you can restart a car that's been running without an alternator even though logic tells you the battery should be flat. A mate of mine made it from Rye to Croydon (about 100k's) with a bung alternator in his Celica.

[Vios-GT_07]

hm .. might or might not be helpful but on the advice of an electrical guru here, and i've hooked up a 4 gauge amp wire, with a 150A fuse in between, from the alternator to the positive terminal of the battery and it sits on top of the original wire of the alternator.. it helps the battery charge up faster, and has made a difference in my piss weak lousy electrical system, that plus a bigger battery, voltage stabiliser and grounding kit has made my car electrically stable..

[o_man_ra23]

Norman, those grounding kits are a fallacy... just make your own, about a tenth of the cost, and just as good or better. Yeah, wierd what batteries do.

Yes, batteries will start the car again after you think it has gone flat... this is due to the rate of electrical discharge being governed by a chemical reaction. The chemicals have an ability to produce a lot of charge quickly, and then taper off exponentially... so itll go to zip after a while. Then the car gets turned off, and the output ability of the chemicals increases back up... and so goes the cycle... handy to know when you need to get home.

Cheers, Owen

[011]

Hooked up my mum's battery to the car (500cca) and the problem continued. Arrgh!!!

We used a jumper cable to re-earth the original battery on a few different parts of the car. Problem still persisted.

Will be doing more checks today based on what people have reccommended here. I still haven't ruled out alternator, either. I'll keep y'all posted.

[Vios-GT_07]

yeap... i made my own grounding kit, using 8 gauge wires... the ones that came with the stabiliser was 16 gauge i think it was.., really thin crap...

hm... could it be you've got an electrical leak somewhere in the car? like a device that's draining power or a stripped wire giving you grief? long shot, but yea u can find that out by checking all fuses anyway...