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If you don't want the back story skip to paragraph 2. Well I recently purchased a 1997 coupe, with known issues. The car has been wrecked and has a rebuilt title. I got the car for my father whose snow birding in Florida till April and I am wanting to get all the issues hammered out before he gets back. I've had the car completely repainted and body panels re aligned, and had a buddy fix a transmission issue ( c clip came off the shaft that holds the reverse fork in place and the car was stuck in reverse. ) cars all back together now and I have an appointment Friday at the dealership to figure out why the air bag lights on, check the tpms dash error, and get the air conditioning working.
I have driven the car around a bit since the repairs and it's been running fine. Rides down the road just like it should, true and straight. Today I go look at it and fill it up with gas, and it's dead. So I charge the battery for a while, and get it to start, go to back out of the driveway, and it keeps dying. So I let it run for a few more mins thinking the battery charge may not have been adequate. After five mines I back out again and put the car in 1st, and as I let the clutch out I hear a terrible screeching noise from the front passenger side wheel area. It like direct contact with an inner fender or something, I pull the car back into the drive way and get under it, there's no signs of rubbing or anything like that, I'm at a loss. If I can't figure it out I'll have to have the car towed tomorrow which id rather avoid.
Only screeching noise sources in the areas you mention would be brakes - pads down to metal, or a small stone between the disk and the backing plate - that can make an awful noise, or wheel bearing. Nothing else up there in the way of moving parts. In front in general though is anything driven by the serpentine belt. A shot tensioner can be very noisy but it's usually more continuous. For starters, I would get that corner up, pull the wheel and have a good look around.
Also, given the car's history, you should check that the engine mounts are good and not letting things move around.
Only screeching noise sources in the areas you mention would be brakes - pads down to metal, or a small stone between the disk and the backing plate - that can make an awful noise, or wheel bearing. Nothing else up there in the way of moving parts. In front in general though is anything driven by the serpentine belt. A shot tensioner can be very noisy but it's usually more continuous. For starters, I would get that corner up, pull the wheel and have a good look around.
Also, given the car's history, you should check that the engine mounts are good and not letting things move around.
Good luck.
Motor mounts are good, just went to move the car a bit and its popping like a bad balljoint or something.. Just replaced tensioners and brakes are brand new
Jack the car up and spin the wheel. It won't go fast enough to create a noise, but you can tell if there is any binding anywhere in that wheel. Compare it ( freedom to spin) with the other side.
As far as the battery not seeming to charge: assuming the alternator and the battery are both good, check the fusible link on the alternator cable that connects to the starter. The alternator cable runs to the starter, then up to the battery to charge it. If the fusible link is bad, your battery won't charge.
Pull your battery and charge it. Then take it to an auto store or shop and have it load tested. If it is good you may have a parasitic drain. If you think you have a drain I can provide you with how to diagnosis.
PS: C5's need the battery to be at or above 12.5 volts before starting in order to make the electronics happy. When the engine is running the battery should be at 14.2-14.7 volts. We are talking about measuring voltage AT the battery.
I'm getting about 14.4 while running on the dash. What happened was the fans clicked on when I opened the hood the other day when the car hadn't been started for a few days. Which was really weird, wonder if it's a bad relay or something..
Pull your battery and charge it. Then take it to an auto store or shop and have it load tested. If it is good you may have a parasitic drain. If you think you have a drain I can provide you with how to diagnosis.
PS: C5's need the battery to be at or above 12.5 volts before starting in order to make the electronics happy. When the engine is running the battery should be at 14.2-14.7 volts. We are talking about measuring voltage AT the battery.
Dadaroo - could you please provide the diagnosis for a possible parasitic drain? Many thanks.
Here is some info for determining if you have a parasitic drain. Let me know if I need to clarify anything of if I can help in any way.
Suggest you remove the hood light bulb first so it does not provide a drain.
For measuring battery drain I would hook up an ammeter to the negative side of the battery by removing the negative cable and measure between the cable and the negative battery post.
When you connect the ammeter the car should draw several amps until it goes into "sleep" mode which can take several minutes. Normal sleep mode drain should be between 17-22 milliamps. You will need an ammeter that can transition from whatever the drain is down into the sleep mode. If you have a drain I suggest the following:
Once you determine you have a drain with an ammeter what I recommend first is to listen to each fuse box and see if you hear any relays operating. If not, then place your hand on each relay to see if any of them feel hot. That can be the start if you find something like that is happening.
If nothing shows up you can hear or feel then I recommend you separate the two fuse boxes from each other. This is easy and done by removing the Red cable from the engine fuse box that feeds the passenger fuse box. It is on the right rear side of the engine fuse box. There is a stud there where the large Red wire from the battery connects. Just remove the nut and disconnect the large Red wire feeding the passenger fuse box and reattach the Red battery cable. NOTE: I would recommend disconnecting the negative ammeter hookup when working on the positive side doing this.
What you will be doing is measuring the drain with an ammeter to see if disconnecting the passenger fuse box causes the drain to go away or not. By depowering the passenger fuse box you will depower the BCM which controls the sleep mode so do not expect the sleep mode to happen.
If removing the feed to the passenger fuse box you then see you have eliminated the drain then you know it is something related to those circuits. If it does not reduce the drain then you know it is related to the engine fuse box. It could be a rare case where you have some drain via both fuse boxes and we can deal with that if you think it is the case.
Once you basically know where it is then you can remove fuses and relays to see where the drain is coming from.
PS: There are cases where the alternator causes a drain so it can be disconnected and see if the drain drops.
Here is some info for determining if you have a parasitic drain. Let me know if I need to clarify anything of if I can help in any way.
Suggest you remove the hood light bulb first so it does not provide a drain.
For measuring battery drain I would hook up an ammeter to the negative side of the battery by removing the negative cable and measure between the cable and the negative battery post.
When you connect the ammeter the car should draw several amps until it goes into "sleep" mode which can take several minutes. Normal sleep mode drain should be between 17-22 milliamps. You will need an ammeter that can transition from whatever the drain is down into the sleep mode. If you have a drain I suggest the following:
Once you determine you have a drain with an ammeter what I recommend first is to listen to each fuse box and see if you hear any relays operating. If not, then place your hand on each relay to see if any of them feel hot. That can be the start if you find something like that is happening.
If nothing shows up you can hear or feel then I recommend you separate the two fuse boxes from each other. This is easy and done by removing the Red cable from the engine fuse box that feeds the passenger fuse box. It is on the right rear side of the engine fuse box. There is a stud there where the large Red wire from the battery connects. Just remove the nut and disconnect the large Red wire feeding the passenger fuse box and reattach the Red battery cable. NOTE: I would recommend disconnecting the negative ammeter hookup when working on the positive side doing this.
What you will be doing is measuring the drain with an ammeter to see if disconnecting the passenger fuse box causes the drain to go away or not. By depowering the passenger fuse box you will depower the BCM which controls the sleep mode so do not expect the sleep mode to happen.
If removing the feed to the passenger fuse box you then see you have eliminated the drain then you know it is something related to those circuits. If it does not reduce the drain then you know it is related to the engine fuse box. It could be a rare case where you have some drain via both fuse boxes and we can deal with that if you think it is the case.
Once you basically know where it is then you can remove fuses and relays to see where the drain is coming from.
PS: There are cases where the alternator causes a drain so it can be disconnected and see if the drain drops.
Here is some info for determining if you have a parasitic drain. Let me know if I need to clarify anything of if I can help in any way.
Suggest you remove the hood light bulb first so it does not provide a drain.
For measuring battery drain I would hook up an ammeter to the negative side of the battery by removing the negative cable and measure between the cable and the negative battery post.
When you connect the ammeter the car should draw several amps until it goes into "sleep" mode which can take several minutes. Normal sleep mode drain should be between 17-22 milliamps. You will need an ammeter that can transition from whatever the drain is down into the sleep mode. If you have a drain I suggest the following:
Once you determine you have a drain with an ammeter what I recommend first is to listen to each fuse box and see if you hear any relays operating. If not, then place your hand on each relay to see if any of them feel hot. That can be the start if you find something like that is happening.
If nothing shows up you can hear or feel then I recommend you separate the two fuse boxes from each other. This is easy and done by removing the Red cable from the engine fuse box that feeds the passenger fuse box. It is on the right rear side of the engine fuse box. There is a stud there where the large Red wire from the battery connects. Just remove the nut and disconnect the large Red wire feeding the passenger fuse box and reattach the Red battery cable. NOTE: I would recommend disconnecting the negative ammeter hookup when working on the positive side doing this.
What you will be doing is measuring the drain with an ammeter to see if disconnecting the passenger fuse box causes the drain to go away or not. By depowering the passenger fuse box you will depower the BCM which controls the sleep mode so do not expect the sleep mode to happen.
If removing the feed to the passenger fuse box you then see you have eliminated the drain then you know it is something related to those circuits. If it does not reduce the drain then you know it is related to the engine fuse box. It could be a rare case where you have some drain via both fuse boxes and we can deal with that if you think it is the case.
Once you basically know where it is then you can remove fuses and relays to see where the drain is coming from.
PS: There are cases where the alternator causes a drain so it can be disconnected and see if the drain drops.
12-25-2014, 01:45 PM
Bought a c5 having some issues..
