I have a gremlin...

tw0123 · 02-12-2012, 11:41 PM

bit of background on the car...
bought it 2 yrs ago with a severe charging issue, turned out to be a bad reman. alternator from Napa... got it replaced, had no issues since.
last week had the idi cover off to install a mechanical oil pressure gauge. reinstalled everything as well as wired up my volt gauge on Thursday.
now to the issue... Saturday night after work, I went out to go home, it was -18 with the wind chill... started the car, it chugged a bit, turned the heater fan to high and the car just died... everything went dead... had my mom give me a boost, when I had the cables on the car, the interior lights did not even come back on until I actually started the car... as it fired up, all I can hear is Bang!!... sounded like it came from under the hood, but my car was backed almost against a brick wall, with another wall on the driver's side of the car, so it's hard to tell where the sound actually came from... anyways, drove the car home, head lights flickered a couple times, the volt gauge fluctuated from around 13.8-15 (after install it had held a constant 14). made it home, turned it off and the oil light and battery light remained on. I started the car back up, and let it run for about another 15 minutes... tried it this morning, and after I fired it up, I stepped on the gas to rev it a bit and it died again the exact same as last night... got frustrated and came back inside...
HELP!!! if anyone has any ideas it would be great! btw, sorry for the novel!

Redog · 02-12-2012, 11:49 PM

I would check the main power connection between the alternator and battery. Sounds like a a ground out or bare wire somewhere that is touching a ground when it's cold out

[ion] C2 · 02-13-2012, 12:01 AM

check battery connections
alternator connection
ground wires
possible alternator failure

SIUlero · 02-13-2012, 09:16 PM

^ those, and test the battery. My guess is it's weak and the water in it started to freeze. Once that happens, it's toast.

tw0123 · 02-13-2012, 11:51 PM

thanks for the tips guys... checked it out tonight a bit more, had my neighbour the mechanic look at it too... after checking everything for about an hour, all we could come up with was a slightly corroded negative terminal on the battery... My neighbour thinks that as a result, this was still sending signals to the BCM trying to find where there was power and it was just hitting the right/wrong spot that would kill the car, and have it act as though there was a dead battery... a little sand paper over the whole area and everything seems back to normal... gonna run it til something else goes wrong and if needed re-diagnose at that time lol...
thanks for the suggestions...

zzyzzx · 02-14-2012, 10:46 AM

Which kind of Gremlin:

zzyzzx · 02-14-2012, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tw0123

after checking everything for about an hour, all we could come up with was a slightly corroded negative terminal on the battery... .

I would have also guessed that, but I would have also suggested checking the ground wire to the chassis. If you are still using a side post battery I can easily see how it could be loose because they suck and next time you should get a top post battery so you can have better battery connections.

Exactly where did you install the voltmeter? I want to see pics.

03glgold · 02-14-2012, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zzyzzx

I would have also guessed that, but I would have also suggested checking the ground wire to the chassis. If you are still using a side post battery I can easily see how it could be loose because they suck and next time you should get a top post battery so you can have better battery connections.

Exactly where did you install the voltmeter? I want to see pics.

I have seen far worse corrosion problems with top post than side post...I just hate hooking jumper cables up when people need a jump start

zzyzzx · 02-14-2012, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 03glgold

I have seen far worse corrosion problems with top post than side post...I just hate hooking jumper cables up when people need a jump start

It's not the corrosion problems I hate about side post batteries, it's the fact that lead is soft and it's to easy to strip out the battery threads. It's probably OK if you stick in a quick disconnect on the negative terminal though.

Never had any problem with them on my 1975 Chevy I had once.

tw0123 · 02-14-2012, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zzyzzx

Exactly where did you install the voltmeter? I want to see pics.

that is where i put the volt meter... the wires go in behind the radio, using the same red/black as the radio through the aftermarket wire harness... I have inline fuses that are in the side fuse panel that protect it from blowing the stereo fuse as well...