Urgent Help Needed Please...

[charl]

Hi everyone

 

let me start by telling you what has been going on with my car. I havent had any problems with it up until about a week ago. i was driving somewhere, just a short drive about 5 minutes, and when i tried to turn the car on again to come home it owuld not turn over. the charge light and the other dash lights that usually come on when you turn the key didnt. completely dead. i waited about 10 minutes and tried again and lo and behold it turned over and started no problems.

 

the same thing has happened a few times this week and so i decided to swap the battery for one i know is good. but then tonight i was driving somewhere and had the headlights on, stereo going, wipers on, and then i was waiting to turn so i had my indicator on and a few seconds later the car just died. i went to start it and nothing. no lights or anything. waited 5 minutes and tried again and it started.

 

so I'm pretty puzzled but i do have a theory. i think the alternator is only doing one of his jobs. i know its supposed to charge the battery while i drive but i think its supposed to run everything else as well? correct me if I'm wrong. so i think its only charging the battery and not doing anything else so the battery charge is not keeping up with what the car needs? i don't know alot about auto electrical so if anyone can offer me some advice i would really appreciate it.

 

thanks in advance

 

Charl

[Bamboo]

Hi everyone

 

let me start by telling you what has been going on with my car. I havent had any problems with it up until about a week ago. i was driving somewhere, just a short drive about 5 minutes, and when i tried to turn the car on again to come home it owuld not turn over. the charge light and the other dash lights that usually come on when you turn the key didnt. completely dead. i waited about 10 minutes and tried again and lo and behold it turned over and started no problems.

 

the same thing has happened a few times this week and so i decided to swap the battery for one i know is good. but then tonight i was driving somewhere and had the headlights on, stereo going, wipers on, and then i was waiting to turn so i had my indicator on and a few seconds later the car just died. i went to start it and nothing. no lights or anything. waited 5 minutes and tried again and it started.

 

so I'm pretty puzzled but i do have a theory. i think the alternator is only doing one of his jobs. i know its supposed to charge the battery while i drive but i think its supposed to run everything else as well? correct me if I'm wrong. so i think its only charging the battery and not doing anything else so the battery charge is not keeping up with what the car needs? i don't know alot about auto electrical so if anyone can offer me some advice i would really appreciate it.

 

thanks in advance

 

Charl

 

C,

 

You say you swapped the battery for one you know is good? It still sounds like the battery is R/S. If the alternator is R/S you're essentially "driving on the battery" which will give you only a short amount of time. Get your hands on a multi meter and put it onto volts. Run the engine and put the positive onto the bit on the back of the alternator where the bolted terminal is and the neg to earth. You should get about 13-14 volts. if it's less the alt is shot. Other thing to consider is the starter solenoid. (little thing attached to the big thing). If it's had it, it can become heat sensitive. So the question is does it only happen when things are hot under the bonnet? Try and break down exactly when it happens and you'll be closer to the solution!!

 

good luck

[scottiriver]

try putting in a separate relay for the starter solenoid as i had the very same problem,

i would try and start it and get no noise what so ever, i put a mulitmetre to the battery and read 8 volts

the corolla's have a tendancy for the key starter switch to become high resistant so the volts drop

 

its pretty simple to wire up, i just took the lead that goes to the ignition for the remote power and connected it to the switch side of the relay, then i had a new big lead from the battery to the relay and the same size cable from the relay to the starter solenoid. USE FUSES!!!

 

hope this helps because my corolla starts everytime no matter what state the battery is in.

[charl]

Thanks Scottiriver and Bamboo for the prompt replies!

 

Scottiriver could you please if you have time show me a diagram of what you mean as i am not very smart with auto electrics. i don't even know what a relay is! :jamie:

[TRD ke70]

sounds like a relay problem, if was the battery it shouldn't have started back up and you would still have had lights and wipers, lights would have be very dimm.

But start with testing the battery with engine running at a fast idle with lights, wipers and anything else you can turn on, the voltage shouldn't drop under 13 volts, if it does alternator isn't doing the job, if it's ok then start looking at relays, from the sound of it, it will be a main relay.

 

good luck. :jamie:

Edited November 29, 2009 by TRD ke70

[charl]

thanks!!

 

will this info help if it is the relay?

 

http://www.type2.com/bartnik/relay.htm

[TRD ke70]

if you need a started relay then yes that will help, but if it's not a started relay, which i don't think it is, then it could misled you.

If you loss lights and wipers the power from the battery wasn't getting through to the components, so the first thing that controls the flow of power from the battery is the relays

the charge light and the other dash lights that usually come on when you turn the key didnt. completely dead.

could even be an ignition switch causing this. Edited November 29, 2009 by TRD ke70

[Big_Valven]

try putting in a separate relay for the starter solenoid as i had the very same problem,

i would try and start it and get no noise what so ever, i put a mulitmetre to the battery and read 8 volts

the corolla's have a tendancy for the key starter switch to become high resistant so the volts drop

 

its pretty simple to wire up, i just took the lead that goes to the ignition for the remote power and connected it to the switch side of the relay, then i had a new big lead from the battery to the relay and the same size cable from the relay to the starter solenoid. USE FUSES!!!

 

hope this helps because my corolla starts everytime no matter what state the battery is in.

FWIW I did exactly the same thing in my KE55. It had a relatively new starter motor and even with a new battery it would occasionally not engage. When it got to be a permanent thing, I actually put in a starter button running fused from the battery straight to the starter solenoid. (Was for offroad use.) It never, ever missed a beat after that.

[charl]

OK so i just put the voltmeter to the battery and it read a little bit over 13 volts, then i started the car and it went up to 14.somthing volts. then i had the engine running and put the headlights, wipers and hazards on and it went down to about 13 volts again but the engine sounded like it was gonna konk out!!

 

so I'm thinking its not the alternator so i will give the relay thing a go. i just need some decent "for dummys" instructions!

[Evan G]

check that 1 wire going to the alternator isnt burnt/damaged etc, that wire carries 12volts to the alternator exticing the diodes and telling the alternator to charge

[roladude]

This may sound stupid but check the back of your fuse box under the dash make sure everything is conected properly. I had the same problem with my ke55 and was getting anoyed with it until one day I hit the fuse box a the problem went away. On closer inspection I found one of the wires was not in the clip that the fuse goes into was not in properly and I just pushed it back in and never had the problem again.

As I said it may sound stupid but sometimes the electrical faults are stupid problems like that.

[charl]

ok so i want to add the relay to the circuit but no-one told me what type of relay I'm going to need? and what other bits do i need? or is there a kit you can buy to do this?