Hi all,
For the 2 and a half years that I have owned my 2004 I have had zero issues. This morning I went for a coffee and the newspaper and the car started and ran fine. 20 minutes later the car wouldn't start. It finally started but ran badly but I got home. I tried to start it again but it wouldn't. I got a low voltage message and the gauges were acting weird and the headlights popped up and down. I bought a new battery and the car cranks but will not start. The headlights and gauges are still acting wacky. What happened to my baby.

Rick

 

What is the voltage reading at the battery terminals?
What is the voltage reading on the DIC?

 

First, I'd run some codes from your DIC and see what it says.

 

I'll get those readings in the morning, thanks.

Rick

 

“MAYBE” a bad ignition switch…if you have a DVOM we can have you check a few things.

 

HI all,
Great news, I watched a video on using the DIC and went through the whole process and cleared all of the codes. I marked all of them down before I cleared them. It appears that they were mostly related to low battery voltage plus a couple of odd ones relating to the right door and radio. It started right up when I was done and it actually sounded and felt stronger. I will take it for a short spin later to make sure. Thanks so much for helping.

Rick

 

LOW VOLTAGE ISSUES can be caused by several different problems. The first thing that I recommend doing is checking all the main POWER & GROUND connection points. Start at the battery. Make sure that each connector is clean and free of corrosion. Check the cable connector crimps under the red and black plastic covers. They can become loose, burnt/corroded.

Insure Battery terminal bolts are torqued to 12 ft/lbs. If you can move a battery terminal by hand, is NOT tight enough.

Check the starter solenoid main connection stud/nut. Make sure its clean, not corroded/burnt and tight! Make sure the wires on that terminal are not burnt.

B+ Connection on the under hood fuse box. Make sure it clean and tight.

Follow the smaller Negative battery ground wire down to chassis ground point G-104/108. Its on top of the frame just inboard of the battery. That ground point is the main chassis ground return point and needs to be DIT DOT Clean and tight!!! The larger ground wire goes down to the block on to Engine Ground G-105. Make sure its clean and tight..

The next time that you have this issue, look at the IPC Volt meter and DIC Digital meter and see what they read. Pull up the IPC DIC digital voltage reading and note that reading. BOTH of those readings are readings off of the IGNITION SWITCH FED "HOT IN RUN AND START" buss. To actually see what the battery is outputting you will have to read that voltage at the battery terminals with a volt meter. Battery voltage readings AND IPC voltage readings can vary and they often do because of switches and relays that are in the "HOT IN RUN AND START" circuit.
If the readings between the battery output voltage and the IPC/DIC voltages are vastly different, you have to figure out where the voltage loss is happening. A majority of the time, it is caused by a bad Ignition Switch.
NOTE AND IMPORTANT STEP! Before you replace the ignition switch ALWAYS inspect the two connectors that plug into the ignition switch and look for spread/damaged female pins. Repair as necessary! Recheck the voltages after repair!

BC

 

Thanks Bill, you are a store house of knowledge. The old battery in the car was a 36 month. I had the car for 2 and a half years. I don't know when the guy before me put the battery in so I just bought a new one. I will check the grounding points.

Rick

 

as dads2 asked, what was the voltage AT the battery? Both static and when running?

 

I only checked the voltage with the car off. It was 12.1 volts. I changed the battery because I didn't know how old it was. Everything seems good now.

Rick