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YACT: My Car Just Died

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Wait are you the guy that posted today if Im a azzhole? Well if it was you man karma came to you to soon and more could be around the corner good luck with your problem since im not a azzhole gotta watch Karma in NBC on tuesdays could help u 🙂
 
Originally posted by: sniperruff
sorry to hear that man. just hang in there, do good in class, and buy a cheap used car instead of a new car.
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Yeah but I don't have the cash. I would... but you can't get like a 3k loan on a used car? I'm gonna see what I can do about this one first. Thanks for the kind words though, it's appreciated.
 
Screw the new with those pay check. Yes you can get a loan for a used car. It makes no sense to get new. Did you think about how much insurance would be on a new car compared to your old car?
 
Originally posted by: amdskip
Screw the new with those pay check. Yes you can get a loan for a used car. It makes no sense to get new. Did you think about how much insurance would be on a new car compared to your old car?
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Yeah I got a quote. Full tort on a 05 civic is the same as I'm paying for limited tort on my galant. I had no insurance history when I purchased the galant. That's actually the reason I got it. I figured I'd drive it for 6 months my insurance would go down. At that point I figured I'd finance. I just need to make more money.
 
In your situation, I'd hate to see you throw money at it and not nail the problem. I know Sears used to do what they called a "Power Team Check". It was $20.00 to diagnose the battery, alternator, and starter. The $20.00 could be applied to the repair, if you allowed them to do the work. Maybe NTB or a similar shop would offer the same price. If it's just a battery, that's a great deal.

It does sound like the alternator puked, but there may be an external reason for that (you mentioned a headlight problem). Normally a short would blow a fuse, but since this didn't (check your fuses to help isolate the problem, if one is blown), it would be kind of scary to subject a new $75.00 alternator to that short... whatever it is.
 
Originally posted by: necine
I started the car in the work parking lot fine. I get on the white horse pike, and the car like blinks. The radio turns off and then back on, the lights go dim, and then get brighter. It was really quick. Then everything just shut off. I pulled off to the side of the highway. Tried to restart it. It didn't work. My phone cant fvcking make outgoing calls right now, because my dad didn't pay the bill because he's fvcking addicted to coke. I had to walk home from atlantic city... something like 10 miles. My dad towed my car back home using a rope and a hook thing. I guess I should also mention that the car was shorting headlights. I was planning on getting that looked at tomorrow while I was at work.

Man... Any ideas? I only wanted the car to last 2 more months so I could buy a new civic. Using that as trade + 2k deposit. This sucks. My life sucks.
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Cheer up. You can always make more money and buy another car. Life doesn't always suck as much as you think, and if it does suck that much, take a deep breath and think things over a bit and be thankful that your ass is still in good health (yes/no?)
 
Originally posted by: necine
Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
You have $600 in the bank and seriously think it's a good idea to buy a new Civic?

ZV
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That's why the plan was to buy it in December.
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*sigh*

Buy a 5-10 year old Civic in good shape with under 100,000 miles. Keep the price under $5,000. Even that is a stretch on what you're making.

ZV
 
Originally posted by: radioouman
it's a lose battery connection.
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Hmmm that makes sense. So before I leave I should make sure that all the connections to the battery are secured?
 
Got a voltmeter? If you can, check what voltage you're getting with the car running. Every vehicle is different but you should be getting between 13-14 volts at idle. I hope you get it diagnosed soon, car problems can me a major PITA.

-Jason
 
Originally posted by: JasonSix78
Got a voltmeter? If you can, check what voltage you're getting with the car running. Every vehicle is different but you should be getting between 13-14 volts at idle. I hope you get it diagnosed soon, car problems can me a major PITA.

-Jason
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I'm going to take it to a garage tomorrow.
 
You've paid to have them do the tests, right? If they'd charge it, you could drive it home on that charge. AutoZone has the alternator for $90.00, so it would be worth a try to put it in yourself. Got tools?
 
Im sorry but your alt being bad WILL NOT cause your car to die. The alt is there for one thing and that is to maintain the battery, not a onbord battery charger, and if it goes bad the car WILL continue to run till the battery goes dead. The only way the car will die is because your running all the other power options. The ALT doesnt produce enough power to run it all and therefore the engine will die if the battery come disconnected.

It has to be a bad wire, corroded terminals (you got stuff growing where the battery and the wire connector) loose wire, loose wires at the starter solonoid, loose wires at the starter. But his idea of telling you the alt is bad and that is why the car wont restart is a bunch of BS. Now if your battery is dead and will not start UNLESS it is jumped and then dies out shortly after yes but what I am reading is it is starting on its own which means the battery has power still in it. If it still has power then the alt is not dead because when that goes the battery dies from running everything.

Now if the lights were going dim and the radio was going on and off I would say your loosing battery connection and the times it is going dim it is running off the alt which it does not produce enough power to run a radio, lights, engine, and other electrical options at the same time which would cause the engine to die. Then the loose connection is the reason why the car will not re-start.

Just go check your wires from the battery to EVERYTHING trace it all down. This means starting at the battery and folowing the wires (both neg and pos) and wiggle them with force (will not get shocked) till you find the problem. If you find that they all are ok it is possable your battery is, like I said before, internaly shorting out but doesnt seem to short out all the time.

You can take my advice how ever you want but 3 years of auto school, 8 years managing auto shops, and back yard mechanic tell me I will bet anything the ALT is your NOT problem with how your describing it. And yes the auto shop will rather charge you for a ALT cuz its most money to them. When that doesnt work they will make up an excuse and say OH it was the ALT and your $5 positive cable wire.
 
Is it fixed, or not? I have no problem believing the aternator puked. From the symptoms, it is totally believable as well. The car is old enough, and symptoms jive, as well as tests performed by a garage. Even the OP can test it easily enough, if he owns a voltmeter.
 
Yeah, they changed the alternator. They said it's working fine. I'm gonna pick it up tomorrow. They charged me 269. My plan when it started (since it might be a loose wire) was to drive the car to the trainstation and take the train in... it died on the way and I pulled it into a local garage. They said that my alternator was bad because it wasn't putting enough juice back into the battery. It made sense. Yeah, I saw the part at autozone, but since it was already at the garage, there diagnostics fee is 40, so I figured they might as well do it.

Funboy: When the car died I was charging my cellphone, had the radio on, lights, and wipers.

"Now if your battery is dead and will not start UNLESS it is jumped and then dies out shortly after yes but what I am reading is it is starting on its own which means the battery has power still in it. If it still has power then the alt is not dead because when that goes the battery dies from running everything. "

It did exactly this when I was driving to the shop. The battery had no more energy left in it.
 
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