I recently developed a problem and I'm trying to diagnose whether it is my battery, connections or alternator.
Two days ago, I was stopped with the radio on for a short time. Went to start back up and there wasn't enough power to turn over. After getting a jump, I let the engine run for a while, turned it off, and it wouldn't start again. The next afternoon, I jump start it, let it run and then turned it off. This time, the engine started strong. No problems…
That night, the problem is back. My guess is that the colder temperature is affecting it somehow? Or could just be by chance.
My battery terminals are very corroded. I cleaned them off extremely well with sandpaper and electrical contact cleaner but it did not help anything. In addition, the engine will not maintain a proper idle. Once the engine gets to temperature, the idle will hover between 400-600 and some of my electronics such as the stereo will shut off. It I rev the engine up to 1000, everything turns back on.
After driving around for a while, the engine will idle fine for maybe 10 seconds before it drops down again and my electronics start shutting off. It's as if once the battery loses that little bit of power, the engine is bogging down trying to keep the alternator going.
So to me, this sounds like an alternator issue. I was also thinking it could be the corrosion on my cables. However, if the engine is running, the alternator alone should be able to keep all of the electronics running, independent of the battery? I could even look into my IAC but the idle is fine until the electronics start shutting off.
Two days ago, I was stopped with the radio on for a short time. Went to start back up and there wasn't enough power to turn over. After getting a jump, I let the engine run for a while, turned it off, and it wouldn't start again. The next afternoon, I jump start it, let it run and then turned it off. This time, the engine started strong. No problems…
That night, the problem is back. My guess is that the colder temperature is affecting it somehow? Or could just be by chance.
My battery terminals are very corroded. I cleaned them off extremely well with sandpaper and electrical contact cleaner but it did not help anything. In addition, the engine will not maintain a proper idle. Once the engine gets to temperature, the idle will hover between 400-600 and some of my electronics such as the stereo will shut off. It I rev the engine up to 1000, everything turns back on.
After driving around for a while, the engine will idle fine for maybe 10 seconds before it drops down again and my electronics start shutting off. It's as if once the battery loses that little bit of power, the engine is bogging down trying to keep the alternator going.
So to me, this sounds like an alternator issue. I was also thinking it could be the corrosion on my cables. However, if the engine is running, the alternator alone should be able to keep all of the electronics running, independent of the battery? I could even look into my IAC but the idle is fine until the electronics start shutting off.
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