Help Please!!! Electrical
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 29
Likes: 0
From: Pensacola FL
Help Please!!! Electrical
I have a 98 vert and lately it has been running fine... Until I left church this morning 
My car was slow to start then while driving to lunch it seemed all the the electrical power would cycle on and off. You could hear a definite clicking and the radio/ac/valentine 1 would cycle on and off so I went ahead and turned everything off. Upon reaching the parking lot of the restaraunt the Service ABS light and the Service Traction Sys light flashed up on the DIC. I figured it was a battery problem and I would get it checked after eating. After lunch my car wouldn't start so I got a jump from a buddy and drove over to Autozone to get the battery tested. The Auto zone techie checked it out and said it looks like there isn't enough voltage coming off of the alternator to charge the battery while the vette is running.
Has anyone had an experience with this before??? Thanks for the help and sorry for the long post....
My car was slow to start then while driving to lunch it seemed all the the electrical power would cycle on and off. You could hear a definite clicking and the radio/ac/valentine 1 would cycle on and off so I went ahead and turned everything off. Upon reaching the parking lot of the restaraunt the Service ABS light and the Service Traction Sys light flashed up on the DIC. I figured it was a battery problem and I would get it checked after eating. After lunch my car wouldn't start so I got a jump from a buddy and drove over to Autozone to get the battery tested. The Auto zone techie checked it out and said it looks like there isn't enough voltage coming off of the alternator to charge the battery while the vette is running. Has anyone had an experience with this before??? Thanks for the help and sorry for the long post....
Drifting
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,553
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From: st paul mn
Originally Posted by 12stepvette
What does the Voltage read when the motor is running? It should read between 13.2- 14.5, anything less and you can be having all the problems you describe.
check that 4 sure!
Tech Contributor
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 32,910
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From: Anthony TX
CI 6,7,8,9,11 Vet
St. Jude Donor '08
You need to make sure that your battery cables and the terminals are clean and properly torqued on the battery and at the starter. The terminals on the battery require 11 ft/lbs of torque for a good connection. After you charge the battery, attach a volt meter across the battery terminals and read the voltage when the car is running. like it was stated in the previous post, you should see 13.2 - 14.5 VDC.
Also check for any codes stored in the DIC memory, write them down and post them here. Clear the codes and check them again after you charge the battery. Post the codes that pop back up when you start the engine after the battery is charged.
Bill C
Also check for any codes stored in the DIC memory, write them down and post them here. Clear the codes and check them again after you charge the battery. Post the codes that pop back up when you start the engine after the battery is charged.
Bill C
Last edited by Bill Curlee; Jan 17, 2005 at 12:49 AM.
