My ignition switch was going, wouldn’t start the other day, solder is getting old. So last night, I replaced it at work.
Now, I have a Viper 5900 alarm with my remote start hooked up. I made two mistakes while installing the new switch.
I hooked up two wires wrong on the new ignition switch for the remote start wires (There are 3 connected to the switch).
I plugged in the switch to the fuse box and main harness, and then attempted to plug it into the back of the key cylinder, accidently causing a spark and blowing my 40amp fuse box fuse.
So after my sparky adventures, I replaced the fuse with my ABS 40amp (under the hood), got all my auxilleries and everything working again and installed the switch, with the remote start wires hooked up right this time.
Now my alarm is acting funky. It wouldn’t remote start at work, but this morning it did… then after leaving work today, it wouldn’t remote start again…
Then, on the way home from work today, my lights started to dim, and I noticed my directionals starting to flicker very very slightly on my gauge cluster. I shut off my car at a friends, and it wouldn’t start again. When I turned the key over to the ‘start’ only my DIRECTIONALS and HIGH BEAM dash lights would light up.
My buddies push started me, I got home, with fading lights on and off. Keep in mind it is snowing alot in Wisconsin right now and water is more than likely getting to my alternator possible causing some problems. But I have plenty of battery power (brand new battery) and my car won’t even turn over.
Definitely sounds like an Alternator issue. When my alternator went out on me I noticed that when it was dusk my gauge cluster lights didn’t even turn on. This was the first sign. Upon returning home I knew there was an issue. I charged the battery up and immediately went to Autozone to have them do an alternator test. They couldn’t even get the alternator tested because it died as they were going to begin stress testing it. Long story short I had to replace the alternator. It’s rather common for our cars to have a bad alternator, considering the years and mileage put on them. Also check your battery terminals for corrosion, and double check your grounds.
Battery is brand new about 2 months ago and my terminals are not corroded whatsoever. I’m going to be taking a test light to my starter power terminal to see if it’s getting power. If it is, my starter is most likely bad, or I have a loose connection somewhere. If it’s not, then I have to trace back to the ignition switch I just replaced the day before.
Not exactly positive why my lights were dimming but, it would be extremely lame if my alternator/starter/ignition switch all failed at the exact… same… time.
[QUOTE=nuggets;1969051]Battery is brand new about 2 months ago and my terminals are not corroded whatsoever. I’m going to be taking a test light to my starter power terminal to see if it’s getting power. If it is, my starter is most likely bad, or I have a loose connection somewhere. If it’s not, then I have to trace back to the ignition switch I just replaced the day before.
Not exactly positive why my lights were dimming but, it would be extremely lame if my alternator/starter/ignition switch all failed at the exact… same… time.[/QUOTE]
At least you can knock all 3 out at the same time so it’s not in the back of your mind that said parts are going to eventually crap out.
Save ur time and get a multimeter or somethin at autozone 2 show u amps or volts going threw it a test light would work but sometimes its like jumpin the circuit. Test light things in the interior. Cause if u do wha u are trying 2 do its most likely not really going 2 give u a definent answer.
I went to remote start my car for shits before I started working on it, and whatd know… it starts. I hop in, drive it around for about 15 minutes.
I shut off my car, try to start again - starter clicks. Shut it off again, try to start - it starts. I kept starting it over and over, still working.
Here’s my current plan of action. Unplug my relay box for my remote start, and completely rule that out for the time being. Test my ignition until it fails again, check power to the starter. If I have power, I’ll replace my starter, which no one seems to have in stock on a sunday afternoon.
Well if its snowing around ur area check ur started ground for salt. Get it a good underbody wash. To check if its ur alternator run ur car for 5mins fully disconnect ur battery. If the car stays on its not ur alternator if it shuts off then u should be having some problems with the altrenator
[QUOTE=eddcartes;1969108]sorry for threadjacking, i’m mostly a lurker here.
in my ls i have a somewhat simile symptom as the op claims to have.
at random the engine starts to hesitate and crumble. yesterday night i noticed that the lights flickered and dimmed with the hesitation.
the car almost died but went back up.
could it be the alternator? or the distributor?
thanks for any help, and again i excuse meself to the op for jacking his thread.
thanks.[/QUOTE]
Check ur ground wire. Make sure there is going 12v going threw ur battery. Sometimes a loose ground can cause that. “Distributor” u wouldn’t b havin a spark in ur ignition
I’m having someone at the Acura dealership I work at take a look at the car. We chit-chatted for a while, he suggested there might be something going on with the fuse box.
So here’s what happened. Got to work, co-worker pulled my car in, started checking it out. My block wasn’t properly grounded on the valve cover, apparently. But, that wasn’t the culprit. Tested the battery, tested bad. I just tested it the day before, it tested good. So I said screw it, lets replace it under warrenty. Battery was only 2 months old. Car fired up, parked it. Drove it home today, no problems with power drain or starting. Everything seemed to be working as normal. I did however get a check engine light, but I didn’t really let the ECU setup properly before I started driving it. Got it home, shut it off, turned it back on, CEL was gone. I’ll reset my ECU later tonight.
It was most likely a shorted cell in the battery. I had heard of the term only a couple days ago but apparently a shorted cell can cause cars to do crazy things. It doesn’t happen often, but it happens. I’m going to go ahead and blame this one on a shorted cell.
