***HELP ME FIGURE THIS OUT PLZ***

[boogerdawg]

Okay i bought a 92 240sx for $900 dollars...the car is in awesome shape for its age and is a steal at the price i paid. Problem is, sometimes the car wont start, but if i wait a while, it will start. Its like the car only starts when it wants. Also, yesterday i got the car started and took it for a drive, while the car is running it runs strong and really smooth. But when i was coming home the car began to sputter and miss and i tried to keep the revs up to keep moving but it just wouldnt rev up. Long story short, the car died, i pushed it off the road, tried to start it again and it acted like the battery was dead, I turned the key and then it just clicked once. then my friend tried to give me a jump, and it still wouldnt start . But today i went up and tried to jump it one last time before i called a tow and the car started up fine. I drove it home and it ran perfect. What could cause problems like these? All help will be greatly appreciated. This really has me stumped. Thanks guys

[Slappy]

alternator sounds like.

[boogerdawg]

cool..yeah im going to take it to advance and have them test it. Hopefully thats what it is...i really dont know what else it could be. Any other ideas in case it aint the alternator?

Also, I did that test where you turn on your car and pull off the negative battery terminal and the engine shut off as soon as it was removed. Is that an accurate way to test the alternator? thanks

[Slappy]

Once your start your car , you can take the battery completely out of your car. To keep the car running is the alternators job.

I bet you your alt is bad. No biggie , takes 5 minutes to install , but cost about $100. Unless you go to the junkyard.

[boogerdawg]

Also, this is kind of weird. When the car does start nothing comes on. The gauges are dead my climate control dont work, nothing. but after i give it a lil bit of gas all is good and everything comes on. and when i really rev it up(like 5-7k) the dome light sometimes gets very bright for a split second then goes back to normal. what could cause this?

[Slappy]

Also, this is kind of weird. When the car does start nothing comes on. The gauges are dead my climate control dont work, nothing. but after i give it a lil bit of gas all is good and everything comes on. and when i really rev it up(like 5-7k) the dome light sometimes gets very bright for a split second then goes back to normal. what could cause this?

Did you replace the alternator yet?

[boogerdawg]

nope not yet. Its really cold but tomorrow im going to go out and check both alternator grounds to make sure its definately the alternator and not just something simple.