Dead alternator or something worse??

[rbs1321]

ok, so its like 5:30 am right now & me & my buddy just finished an hour and a half process of pushing my dead s13 up my steep *** driveway...heres the story. so i was at a friends shop doing some late night work, namely putting in my new koyo radiator. so once i was done with that i started driving home. whenever i got to red lights i noticed that my rpms were fluctuating (going from 800 to 1400, then back down & so forth- this is a common symptom of dying alternators). so i kept driving, and at the next light, my car stalled for no reason. so i figured that it must be a leak due to me not tightening a clamp enough when putting stuff back on after the radiator install ( i had to remove my ic pipes & intake pipe). so i keep driving, and i stall again, this time in the middle of shifting gears! i try to start it up, it wont start...so i try again and gun it and am finally able to move, only to have it keep dying every time i made a stop on the way home. anyway, i get to my house, pull up into the driveway, and POP! a loud noise & my car goes completely dead...everything...lights, engine, headlight motor, everything. now ive never experienced a dead alternator so i dont know if this is what is supposed to happen...but i know its not the battery cuz i tried to replace the battery with a new one i had in my garage right there & then, & the car still wouldnt power up. by the way, i also heard a sizzling/clicking noise coming from my engine somewhere, couldnt pinpoint where exactly but it seemed to be coming from the coil pack area. but there was no signs of damage anywhere or smoke or anything like that. so anyone have any ideas? this really pissed me off cuz i had acar show i was going to tomorrow morning (well, in like 5 hours)...and now i cant go. well if anyone has any suggestions please help me out here! and sorry for the long post.

[rb250sx]

What series motor is this? sounds like possibly ignition module. the sizling would be the plastic gluey stuff they put on it. Usually when they burn up, it melts this plastic.

[USMCgetsome]

yo man check all your main fuses. Check the electrical system to see if your carrying any voltage what so ever. Could have been that something was grounding out and caused the burning. Chech your relays as well just smell them for a burn or fried scent.

[rbs1321]

hey guys thanks for the responses. well the thing is, ive burnt fuses & stuff in the past, but this time i didnt smell any type of burning smell whatsoever. so i pretty much cancelled out that idea...as for the ignition module, that wouldnt be responsible for shutting down the power to the entire car would it? and i havent grounded anything new or done any wiring lately, so i dont see why it would be a bad ground....im really thinking its the alternator, the symptoms just sound like it....any way to know for sure? or any other ideas guys? let me know, thanks!

[rbs1321]

oh by the way its an rb20det in an s13

[Yellow4g63]

How was the car before the swap? did it have problems before? My S13 had eletrical problems before I did the swap. They came to haunt me with the RB swap too. I'd check the fusable links to see if any of them poped too and check the relays. Like the other guys said sounds like something grounded out and killed something.

[rbs1321]

well it always used to drain the battery pretty hard...like when i turned up the volume on my system you could hear the revs go down a little...but no problems as bad as this of course....as for the fuses, i check the engine bay fuses out and none of em are burnt....i also didnt see any visible damage to any of the grounds or anything...any other ideas? i figure you guys are right that its a loose ground or something, but i have no idea where....

[gomer23]

So when you got home you replaced the battery and your dome light or radio or anything still doesnt turn on? am i understanding this correctly?

if so check your ground from your battery to chassis and the ground from the block. and check the wire from the positive side of the battery too. Make sure its not grounding out anywhere.

[rbs1321]

yes that is correct, the car has zero power...nothing turns on even with battery connected...i checked all interior/engine fuses and everythings fine. i visibily inspected all grounds and battery cables and nothing is different than before....is there any way to "check" to see if a negative is good or bad besides visibily inspecting it? im no wiring expert, so i really dont know what else to do besides seeing if the wire is melted or has a buring smell.....but like i said everything seems perfectly normal. if anyone has any more suggestions please post...im getting real discouraged here....thanks.

[gomer23]

well make sure the terminals are tightened. sometimes if either of the terminals is just a little loose it can cause a problem. If that isnt it, i would have to be a fuse someone. If you did infact ground a wire out then a fuse would have had to have poped somewhere. Now since you dont have any power to anything I would check the fuses under the hood again carefully. If that doesnt do the trick then something has been disconnected somewhere, I would follow the positive power wire from the battery and see if that has been cut or disconnected anywhere.

[rbs1321]

ok guys, i think i know what the problem is...the damn battery relocation kit....i dont know if i mentioned it earlier but my battery is in my trunk...so after running various test-light tests & checking fuses and whatnot, i figured, hey, let me try to connect the battery directly to the terminals in the engine bay (i was previously trying to connect it through the relocation cables that run from my engine bay to the trunk)....and boom, it powered right up...now the only problem is im not sure whether i should try to buy new (and better) relocation cables, or whether i should re-do my intercooler piping so i can move my battery back up to the stock location....has anyone else experience problems with relocation kits? or know of any really good brand kit? any thoughts are appreciated, and thanks for all your help guys

[Slo_240sx]

I would leave it just run your new terminals and connect them to the old terminals. Cut the old terminals off and splice. Its tough to splice big gauge cables but there is a right way to do it. -Alex

[goofynick6]

I had a buddy once that relocated his battery in his Probe GT to mount a turbo kit. No matter what he did, the car wouldn't start with the battery in the trunk. He put the battery back up front, fired right up. So yeah, trunk-mount setups can be weird.

Nick

[rbs1321]

ok, so its NOT the relocation cables....heres where im at now...the only way to start the car is for me to put the battery in the engine bay and hook it up to the terminals direct...so i did that, and the car starts up fine...but then it does the stalling thing where the revs go up (to about 1200), then go back down to about 600 rpms, and it keeps doing that until it eventually drops below 600 rpms & just stalls...sounds like an alternator problem right? well the alternator is testing out fine....BUT after we turn off the car, we hear the sizzling noise again coming from the same exact area of the motor where i heard the pop. check out the pic i attached, i circled the region its coming from...so basically, theres something in that region thats causing the car to lose power...i figure the car has enough power to start, but not enough power to stay running or to send enough power to the trunk when the battery is in the back....anyone know what wire(s) in that region would be responsible for such a thing? or could it be the coil pack? again, there is nothing visibily wrong, no melted wires, no smoking, no burnt smell, no burnt fuses ( i even replaced the master fuse just to be sure), etc. anyone?

[rbs1321]

bump...helppppp pleeeease