Car trouble - help?

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**timetowaste85**

xKillGorex wrote:
timetowaste85 wrote:
Alternator. I'm having that exact issue right now on my work truck. It's a pisser.

And my alternator is for a vehicle that isn't made anymore.

Is there anywhere near you that you could take the alternator to be refurbished, just a warning it could prove costly or they may be able to find a different one that fits.

It's toast. It actually broke further when they removed it. But it's running smoother on the new one. So...that's nice. Sounded weird to me at first, but with batteries running smoother and charging properly...I guess it makes sense.

**xKillGorex**

Yeah that happens a lot. To be fair the cases are all made from aluminium, that stuff can be very brittle. But hey jobs done so that's a good un .

**AllSeeingSkink**

usernamesareannoying wrote:
thanks chainsword.
i checked the alternator like you mentioned.

im starting to think i may have done something to the anti theft system.

i didnt think about it but when i was messing with the fuses the horn honked once like it was arming the car alarm.

i didnt think anything of it at the time but while trying to figure out why it wont even crank any more i stumbled upon this possibility.

i tried using the fob to arm.disarm it but no change.

i tried resetting it by disconnecting the ground for about 5 minutes but that didnt help. since then ive found a few other things to try like using the actual key in the lock and not the fob as well as some other ideas like disconnecting both battery cables and then touching them together.

once i can get it to start again i plan on taking it to a shop to have the battery and charger checked.

It's probably something where you have to google your specific vehicle to figure out how to reset it. I'm not sure there's any industry standard way of resetting car computers and security systems.

Also the thing I mentioned of disconnecting the battery for a few minutes then reconnecting will probably only work if the battery isn't dead, if it was reading 11.5V before you started pulling fuses then it's probably pretty dead. I think 11.75 is considered 0% charge?

Apparently weird things can happen to car computers (either the immobiliser system of the engine management system) when batteries go dead flat as well.

But yeah, those sorts of issues can potentially be very vehicle specific.

I hope you have a competent mechanic who doesn't just start replacing stuff without knowing what they're doing!

**usernamesareannoying**

Well I'm out of ideas, i can't get it to even turn over now.
Battery its good, starter is good, it just seems like the ignition isn't telling it to start.
I turn the key and hear one click and then nothing.

**Azreal13**

Starter motor?

The symptoms are very similar to a failing battery, to the point that I thought mine was in the way out, only to find I needed a new battery.

If there's a sticking solenoid or something, that could also explain the draw that kills the battery.

**Gogsnik**

A few years ago my car started to suddenly die whilst driving , wouldn't start randomly, then it would start but only after a ten minute rest et cetera. I had to take it to a proper dealership in the end for diagnosis as the local garage didn't have the fancy computer stuff; and I only just about got it to the dealership after thinking I might have to push it about three miles, mainly up hill, although it did die on the way and re-starting an engine whilst travelling at speed isn't really fun. Turned out to be a cam-shaft sensor. Why does the car need one and what does it do? Who knows!!

**usernamesareannoying**

I bypassed the starter relay and it cranks.
I can only assume that whatever is keeping it from starting with the key also has the fuel pump killed though so it won't catch.

**Azreal13**

Ok, that's progress!

I think you need someone with decent working knowledge of your specific car/manufacturer as you're quite possibly correct about the fuel pump being isolated, but that could be a security feature, a separate contact further up in the ignition mechanism that isn't being triggered or a whole bunch of other things I'm not even considering.

You've almost certainly got an immobilizer linked to the key on a car that age, so that'd be the favorite, IMO, if it was as simple as bypassing the starter relay to get a car running, a lot more cars would get stolen!