fshavlak
June 5th, 2008, 07:47 PM
Ok, the LTC (1997 Cartier, ~105k) has been running real well recently, despite some neglect (I need to do valve springs / seals, and plugs / wires, but been putting it off).
Anyway ... fast forward to two nights ago, driving back from the girlfriend's, noticed that the dash seemed a little brighter than usual while waiting at a red light, and then it starts to dim, along with the headlights and other lights. Fearing a stall, I gave it some gas.
Same / similar things happened at all the sitting still spots on the drive back, I went ahead and parked it not expecting it to start the next time I tried.
Didn't have time to get out there until today, and sure enough, it's pretty dead. lights came on, keyless entry worked, no response from the engine.
Used one of those battery boosters on it, mostly because I wanted to get my tools out of the trunk and I know the trunk won't close again without juice ... anyway, the battery booster wasn't fully charged so I didn't expect to be able to start it, but after it had been connected for about five minutes I gave it a go anyway and it roared right to life.
No problems at all idleing, smooth idle and revved like a champ with some throttle, but electrical power did seem to be down (activating the brake lights by putting light pressure on the brake pedal would cause the interior lights to flicker.
I used my multimeter on it, I was measuring ~11-12 volts at the cigarette lighter (way low, I know) but a healthy 13-14 volts across the battery terminals.
I let it idle for about 10 minutes, poking around the engine looking for smoking wire insulation or some other obvious sign of a short, but didn't find any.
After I switched it off it had juiced up enough to start again, I did four on -> off -> on -> off -> on etc in quick succession and the battery kept starting it just fine.
So I packed everything in, to recharge the booster (probably going to carry it with me for a while), and post here.
in a half hour or so I'll go try to start it up again and if it's running fine I'll go to the grocery store (i'm hungry).
Anyway, some more info:
battery ~ 7 months old, from an NTB.
car - 13.6 volts across the battery while running, 11-12 volts at the cigarette lighter, not very confident about that second reading though, I was having a hard time getting a good connection and for a while it claimed to have ~35 volts across it).
I had been noticing the car was having a harder time starting (nothing serious, I just put it up to having a nearly empty fuel tank), but had been running perfect until I had those dimming issues.
My plan:
Go to autozone and have them do their alternator and battery checks, if one fails I'll replace it and call it a day.
I'm terrified it's a short hidden away somewhere in the electrics.
Any advice will be appreciated.
Anyway ... fast forward to two nights ago, driving back from the girlfriend's, noticed that the dash seemed a little brighter than usual while waiting at a red light, and then it starts to dim, along with the headlights and other lights. Fearing a stall, I gave it some gas.
Same / similar things happened at all the sitting still spots on the drive back, I went ahead and parked it not expecting it to start the next time I tried.
Didn't have time to get out there until today, and sure enough, it's pretty dead. lights came on, keyless entry worked, no response from the engine.
Used one of those battery boosters on it, mostly because I wanted to get my tools out of the trunk and I know the trunk won't close again without juice ... anyway, the battery booster wasn't fully charged so I didn't expect to be able to start it, but after it had been connected for about five minutes I gave it a go anyway and it roared right to life.
No problems at all idleing, smooth idle and revved like a champ with some throttle, but electrical power did seem to be down (activating the brake lights by putting light pressure on the brake pedal would cause the interior lights to flicker.
I used my multimeter on it, I was measuring ~11-12 volts at the cigarette lighter (way low, I know) but a healthy 13-14 volts across the battery terminals.
I let it idle for about 10 minutes, poking around the engine looking for smoking wire insulation or some other obvious sign of a short, but didn't find any.
After I switched it off it had juiced up enough to start again, I did four on -> off -> on -> off -> on etc in quick succession and the battery kept starting it just fine.
So I packed everything in, to recharge the booster (probably going to carry it with me for a while), and post here.
in a half hour or so I'll go try to start it up again and if it's running fine I'll go to the grocery store (i'm hungry).
Anyway, some more info:
battery ~ 7 months old, from an NTB.
car - 13.6 volts across the battery while running, 11-12 volts at the cigarette lighter, not very confident about that second reading though, I was having a hard time getting a good connection and for a while it claimed to have ~35 volts across it).
I had been noticing the car was having a harder time starting (nothing serious, I just put it up to having a nearly empty fuel tank), but had been running perfect until I had those dimming issues.
My plan:
Go to autozone and have them do their alternator and battery checks, if one fails I'll replace it and call it a day.
I'm terrified it's a short hidden away somewhere in the electrics.
Any advice will be appreciated.