I know it's always hard to pin piont electrical problems, especially over the internet, but i'll try to describe the problem as best I can to see if anyone else has had a similar problem.
I recently swapped my SR engine which was in a 90 s13 hatch into a 94 convertible after I crashed my 90 s13.
After completing the swap I would fired it up and it would run fine for a few minutes, but then it would just die. Turns out my alternator somehow went bad, so the battery wasn't getting charged. I changed the alternator and everything was good, car would start up fine and idle for as long as I wanted it to. So I thought everything was good. I finished putting my car back together, took it for a test drive and there were no problems.
I drove it home that night from my garage with no problems. Drove it to the beach the next morning with no problems. When I go to leave the beach, I try to start my car and my starter is just clicking and it won't even crank. I tried push starting my car once, but that didn't work, then I tried cranking it again and it slowly cranked and finally turned over. The weird thing is as I was cranking it my tach and my temperature gauge were going nuts, like jumping all around, but when it finally turned over they read normal.
The rest of the day was more of the same, very hesitant to start up, but once it did start it ran fine. On the way home from the beach my temp gauge started bouncing around while I was idleing, but when I reved it it would immediatley come back to normal. I'm not talking about the temp gauge slowly climbing, I'm talking going nuts like bouncing all around rapidly and as soon as I hit the gas it would come back to normal.
I drove it back to my garage and started to look for possible problems. looked around for loose connections double checked wiring. Checked battery and it read about 12.5-12.7V on a voltmeter I even swapped starters and the same thing was still happening.
It seems like the battery doesn't have enough juice to crank the car, sometimes the starter will click, sometimes it won't engage at all, sometimes I will hear a series of clicks. both starters I tried are like this, but the battery still has enough juice to run my stereo, high beams, cooling fan, and heater/AC fan at full blast. I don't get it, it almost seems like the battery has lost all of it's cranking amps, does that happen??
I haven't tried a different battery because I don't have any extras around and I don't feel like spending $75 for a new one if that is not the problem. If someone thinks it's the battery i'll go try a new one, but if anyone else has any other suggestions I'm all ears
Electrical Gremlins (long)
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question219.htm
Running my car straight off my battery while my alternator was bad may have fried my battery. I kept charging it with a battery charger and draining it while I was figureing out what the problem was. I think I'm gonna have to pay up for a new battery
. Hopefully that's the only problem.
quote from howstuffworks.com
A car's battery is designed to provide a very large amount of current for a short period of time. This surge of current is needed to turn the engine over during starting. Once the engine starts, the alternator provides all the power that the car needs, so a car battery may go through its entire life without ever being drained more than 20 percent of its total capacity. Used in this way, a car battery can last a number of years. To achieve a large amount of current, a car battery uses thin plates in order to increase its surface area.
A deep cycle battery is designed to provide a steady amount of current over a long period of time. A deep cycle battery can provide a surge when needed, but nothing like the surge a car battery can. A deep cycle battery is also designed to be deeply discharged over and over again (something that would ruin a car battery very quickly). To accomplish this, a deep cycle battery uses thicker plates.
A car battery typically has two ratings: CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) - The number of amps that the battery can produce at 32 degrees F (0 degrees C) for 30 seconds RC (Reserve Capacity) - The number of minutes that the battery can deliver 25 amps while keeping its voltage above 10.5 volts
Typically, a deep cycle battery will have two or three times the RC of a car battery, but will deliver one-half or three-quarters the CCAs. In addition, a deep cycle battery can withstand several hundred total discharge/recharge cycles, while a car battery is not designed to be totally discharged.
btw http://www.howstuffworks.com is a really cool website
Running my car straight off my battery while my alternator was bad may have fried my battery. I kept charging it with a battery charger and draining it while I was figureing out what the problem was. I think I'm gonna have to pay up for a new battery
. Hopefully that's the only problem.quote from howstuffworks.com
A car's battery is designed to provide a very large amount of current for a short period of time. This surge of current is needed to turn the engine over during starting. Once the engine starts, the alternator provides all the power that the car needs, so a car battery may go through its entire life without ever being drained more than 20 percent of its total capacity. Used in this way, a car battery can last a number of years. To achieve a large amount of current, a car battery uses thin plates in order to increase its surface area.
A deep cycle battery is designed to provide a steady amount of current over a long period of time. A deep cycle battery can provide a surge when needed, but nothing like the surge a car battery can. A deep cycle battery is also designed to be deeply discharged over and over again (something that would ruin a car battery very quickly). To accomplish this, a deep cycle battery uses thicker plates.
A car battery typically has two ratings: CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) - The number of amps that the battery can produce at 32 degrees F (0 degrees C) for 30 seconds RC (Reserve Capacity) - The number of minutes that the battery can deliver 25 amps while keeping its voltage above 10.5 volts
Typically, a deep cycle battery will have two or three times the RC of a car battery, but will deliver one-half or three-quarters the CCAs. In addition, a deep cycle battery can withstand several hundred total discharge/recharge cycles, while a car battery is not designed to be totally discharged.
btw http://www.howstuffworks.com is a really cool website
it wasn't the battery . I did get it to start a few time though, out of the 10-15 times I tried it started like 3 times. one time after checking some connections, I reconnected the battery terminals and the car started cranking with no key in the ignition, what the hell is that??? This is such a weird problem, and it's so frustrating.....I mean really, I connected the battery terminals and the car just started cranking and I was holding the keys in my hand, I had to pull the terminals to get it to stop. Then I went to try and start it with the key and nothing happened
. I did get it to start a few time though, out of the 10-15 times I tried it started like 3 times. one time after checking some connections, I reconnected the battery terminals and the car started cranking with no key in the ignition, what the hell is that??? This is such a weird problem, and it's so frustrating.....I mean really, I connected the battery terminals and the car just started cranking and I was holding the keys in my hand, I had to pull the terminals to get it to stop. Then I went to try and start it with the key and nothing happened