by "ImmoralMinority" (araimondo)
Published 09/17/2017 at 14:05
by "ImmoralMinority" (araimondo)
Published 09/17/2017 at 14:05
No Tags
STARS: 3
When the low voltage light went off in the Sunchaser, I just assumed it was the alternator. I needed the car to get a once-over by my trusted mechanic Keith before my 250 mile road trip to the Japanese Classic Car Show, so like an idiot, never bothered to do the obvious and look under the hood.
I looked, and oh, shit. It looks like the belt that goes around the crank, alternator and fan has come off, as has the one the one that goes around the power steering pump. Damn.
"E90M3" (e90m3)
09/17/2017 at 14:14, STARS: 2
Could be worse.
My Ford Explorer had all kinds of random electrical problems. When I was in high school there were times that it would just refuse to start, this was down to the camshaft position sensor. Few years after that, it would not respond to throttle input and sometimes would randomly die at idle. Eventually it threw a code and I was able to diagnose it as the throttle position sensor. Fast forward to early 2014. It starts acting up on me again, randomly refusing to start. Well on my first day off one time, it finally completely refused to start, usually letting it sit for a few minutes would cure the problem, not this time. So I had it towed to the Ford dealer, I was living in Alice Texas at the time and had no idea where else to take it. Well, after a while they figure out it’s the crankshaft position sensor. About two weeks later I’m driving back from Corpus Christi and it starts violent shaking and flashing the check engine light at me. Fuck. So at this time I didn’t trust the Ford dealer and I was going to be spending two months in Russia and I could take it to a shop I trust, only problem is that shop is 1050 miles away. Well, I drive it like this for about 6 weeks until it’s time for me to drive back to my parents house because I told them I was flying out of ATL when I went to Russia. Well I limp the Explorer home, 1050 miles in a single day with a sick Explorer. Well the next day my dad and I are looking at the Explorer. We pop the hood and he’s like you see anything wrong, and I’m like no. Apparently the spark plug wire that went from the coil to the spark plug on cylinder 1 had come lose. Reconnect the wire, reset the code, fire it up and it’s just fine.
I really wish I had popped the hood a few weeks earlier.
"Chuckles" (chucklesw37)
09/17/2017 at 14:27, STARS: 1
Here’s something to make you feel better. A few months after buying my Miata, it developed a problem where it didn’t always like to start. Once it was running it seemed ok, but some days it just wouldn’t start. The problem was intermittent, so I’d shrug it off and drive my Civic if it wouldn’t start because I had no trusty local mechanic. One Saturday, after sitting for a week, it starts. I drive straight to Advanced Auto Parts to see if they can check my alternator. It’s fine. The guy takes a look at the battery in the trunk and immediately diagnoses the problem. The previous owner had installed a battery disconnect on the negative terminal for when he’d store it in the winter, and I never noticed. It was two metal pieces with a Teflon insulator, connected by a bolt. Unscrew the bolt and your battery won’t drain. The bolt had loosened so the connection was unreliable. We removed the disconnect and it’s been running solid ever since.
"random001" (random001)
09/17/2017 at 14:27, STARS: 6
So technically it WAS a problem with the alternator. It wasn’t spinning! See? Bright side!
"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
09/17/2017 at 14:36, STARS: 0
So were the belts just old? Or did something eat them?
"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
09/17/2017 at 15:24, STARS: 1
D’oh!!