Help Keep having power issues - battery, alternator replaced. Out of ideas
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Keep having power issues - battery, alternator replaced. Out of ideas
Ok so weird situation that's driving me crazy here. I have a 2008 G37S, 191,000 miles. manual. Never had any issues until recently.
Full list of events:
- had battery replaced this past February, had been about 5 years since it was replaced and kept dying so it was time.
- Early may, I was driving in the city, from a light, car's throttle response wasn't there. wouldn't go when I pressed the pedal. Shifted into neutral, gave it a second and it started going again. Later that night, while sitting at a red light, car just fully died, seemingly out of nowhere. I called AAA, tried to charge the battery but couldn't get it to start, acted fully dead (windows wouldn't roll up or down, hazard lights were flashing but lights weren't showing they were on on the dash). Had the car towed to my mechanic.
- He tested it and said the alternator had gone bad so I had it replaced.
- On my drive back from the mechanic after alternator replacement, my heater core hose fitting failed, coolant cloud behind me, block was covered in a light coating of coolant, I pulled over and had it towed back. Was upgraded with a new hose that had an aluminum fitting instead of the OEM plastic.
- Picked the car up a few days later, everything was OK. Stayed in proper temp range, electrical issues seemed to be gone.
- 2 weeks later, I went to start the car and it was dead again. I check, no lights or anything were left on. Used a jump pack to get it started and it started right up. Drove it about 20 minutes and it died in traffic again. same sort of signals as before, lights on dash flashed, throttle wouldn't respond and then it died. Called my mechanic and AAA, they thought that the battery that had been replaced in February may have had the cells damaged from the alternator failing and recommended replacing the battery again, so I did. Had it replaced with a AAA battery that has a 3 year warranty.
- Last week while driving for work, I was driving and same issue popped back up. lights flashed, car died, wouldn't start back up.
- Had it towed back, mechanic thought after everything that had happened that it must have been the new alternator that failed so he did a warranty replacement on it. I picked the car up, drove it back home (about 45 minutes) without having any issues. Drove it the next day and didn't't have any issues. Parked it for the weekend.
- Went to start the car this morning and it's dead again. When I pressed the ignition, it sputtered/clicked, lights on dash came on so it wasn't acting fully dead. I had picked up one of those cigarette lighter volt meters yesterday and when I plugged it in today it read about 9V, went down to 8.8V after I tried starting it. Again, no lights were left on, can't seem to figure out what could have drained the battery over the couple of days of sitting. I checked the battery terminals and didn't see any signs of corrosion. I did notice a little bit of white on the engine block that im assuming is from the coolant hose bursting earlier.
Does anybody have any idea what's happening? Literally never had a single issue with this car over the past 12 years, then all of the sudden all of this happens in a short time. I know the heater core hose was just bad luck and with the age, im not surprised, but the electrical issues are confusing me. Did the coolant hose bursting cause this somehow? I know it's not out of the question for the coolant having been what killed the first replacement alternator as they are close together, but after having that replaced, I don't know how it would be connected. Is there a parasitic drain somewhere that's causing this issue? Please, any ideas would be greatly appreciated, I have to keep this car running for a while longer until I can realistically get something else (and even then, im holding on to it forever, I love my G too much and will have it fully rebuilt eventually). Im losing my mind and it's causing me so much frustration and making my work more of a pain because of this. Please let me know if I can provide any other details that might help or if you have had any similar issues.
Full list of events:
- had battery replaced this past February, had been about 5 years since it was replaced and kept dying so it was time.
- Early may, I was driving in the city, from a light, car's throttle response wasn't there. wouldn't go when I pressed the pedal. Shifted into neutral, gave it a second and it started going again. Later that night, while sitting at a red light, car just fully died, seemingly out of nowhere. I called AAA, tried to charge the battery but couldn't get it to start, acted fully dead (windows wouldn't roll up or down, hazard lights were flashing but lights weren't showing they were on on the dash). Had the car towed to my mechanic.
- He tested it and said the alternator had gone bad so I had it replaced.
- On my drive back from the mechanic after alternator replacement, my heater core hose fitting failed, coolant cloud behind me, block was covered in a light coating of coolant, I pulled over and had it towed back. Was upgraded with a new hose that had an aluminum fitting instead of the OEM plastic.
- Picked the car up a few days later, everything was OK. Stayed in proper temp range, electrical issues seemed to be gone.
- 2 weeks later, I went to start the car and it was dead again. I check, no lights or anything were left on. Used a jump pack to get it started and it started right up. Drove it about 20 minutes and it died in traffic again. same sort of signals as before, lights on dash flashed, throttle wouldn't respond and then it died. Called my mechanic and AAA, they thought that the battery that had been replaced in February may have had the cells damaged from the alternator failing and recommended replacing the battery again, so I did. Had it replaced with a AAA battery that has a 3 year warranty.
- Last week while driving for work, I was driving and same issue popped back up. lights flashed, car died, wouldn't start back up.
- Had it towed back, mechanic thought after everything that had happened that it must have been the new alternator that failed so he did a warranty replacement on it. I picked the car up, drove it back home (about 45 minutes) without having any issues. Drove it the next day and didn't't have any issues. Parked it for the weekend.
- Went to start the car this morning and it's dead again. When I pressed the ignition, it sputtered/clicked, lights on dash came on so it wasn't acting fully dead. I had picked up one of those cigarette lighter volt meters yesterday and when I plugged it in today it read about 9V, went down to 8.8V after I tried starting it. Again, no lights were left on, can't seem to figure out what could have drained the battery over the couple of days of sitting. I checked the battery terminals and didn't see any signs of corrosion. I did notice a little bit of white on the engine block that im assuming is from the coolant hose bursting earlier.
Does anybody have any idea what's happening? Literally never had a single issue with this car over the past 12 years, then all of the sudden all of this happens in a short time. I know the heater core hose was just bad luck and with the age, im not surprised, but the electrical issues are confusing me. Did the coolant hose bursting cause this somehow? I know it's not out of the question for the coolant having been what killed the first replacement alternator as they are close together, but after having that replaced, I don't know how it would be connected. Is there a parasitic drain somewhere that's causing this issue? Please, any ideas would be greatly appreciated, I have to keep this car running for a while longer until I can realistically get something else (and even then, im holding on to it forever, I love my G too much and will have it fully rebuilt eventually). Im losing my mind and it's causing me so much frustration and making my work more of a pain because of this. Please let me know if I can provide any other details that might help or if you have had any similar issues.
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Kaighal
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Jun 16, 2021 06:20 PM