After working on my suspension last night and getting alot of rain in my engine bay (maybe shorted a relay?) i went to start my car, it clicked a few times, then started fine. This morning, i went to start it, clicked a few more times, then started, i stopped for gas, went to start it and the relay under the dash made almost a buzzing sound from working so fast, i let off and my dash lights would be dim, then i heard a click and they'd get bright again. I had it push started and it ran fine, i went on the interstate, turned my car off like a retard during driving to see if my starter would work, no, i tried kick starting it and it had no power whatsoever, i pull over, no dash lights, no nothing. I wait about 5 minutes and i have very, very dim dash lights, when i turn on an accessory, power is killed, radio worked for awhile during this period if it was on the accessory option along with my amp, but that quit when i rolled the key over and the dash lights came on, it wouldn't come back on with the accessory. I tried jumping it and it wouldn't make a difference at all.


Modified by O16581724 5 2 5 at 8:58 PM 3/9/2006

 

Need help before Advance closes!

 

Battery is fine, after it sat for a few hours, i came back and the lights were bright again, but the starter wouldn't click over, so i'm assuming it's a bad relay, i had a friend push start it. I got it home, turned it off, turned it back on, no power whatsoever again. Where should i look for relays?


Modified by O16581724 5 2 5 at 8:59 PM 3/9/2006

 

Went back out, car has no power to the dome light or head lights (or anything), someone help, i have plans to leave state this weekend!

 

what did you cover so far? did you check all fuses and grounds? doesnt sound like a main relay problem, sounds more like a loose ground or possible a starter relay

 

That would cause it to lose power to everything after it's been driven? If it sits, it builds almost full power back (i haven't let it sit more than 4 hours).

 

i dunno man that doesnt make sense to me honestly... the only way your battery gets "full power" is if its running, the alternator recharges it,,, did u test anything yet?

 

I don't know where to even look, i tested the battery, well, i used another good battery and the same results. So it's not that, a friend of mine said if a relay goes bad, it'll build power back after it sits.

 

i dont see any truth to that but i could be wrong.. to my understanding, a relay is simply a coil and a contact.. when the coil has power goin through it, it causes the contact to close creating another path for current to pass through.. if a relay goes bad, usually its a broken coil, or just bad contacts.. so i would check all the grounds make sure they are all tight (battery ground, starter ground, thermostat ground, and tranny..) then take a test light to all the fuses both sides and make sure all fuses are good underdash and under hood.. if everything tests out good both grounds and fuses then we'll go from there

 

I'll check it out tomorrow.

 

I fixed it. I don't know what i did, but i hooked a battery charger to it, still dead, then suddenly i got all power, tried to start it, everything shut down. Unhooked the battery terminals while it was still being held on charge, got power back, reattached it to the battery, full power back, started right up, let it run for awhile, shut it down, started right back up again, did that about 10 times.

 

Make sure your ground cable is grounded to the transmission and body.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jdeemseerx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i dont see any truth to that but i could be wrong.. to my understanding, a relay is simply a coil and a contact.. when the coil has power goin through it, it causes the contact to close creating another path for current to pass through.. if a relay goes bad, usually its a broken coil, or just bad contacts.. so i would check all the grounds make sure they are all tight (battery ground, starter ground, thermostat ground, and tranny..) then take a test light to all the fuses both sides and make sure all fuses are good underdash and under hood.. if everything tests out good both grounds and fuses then we'll go from there</TD></TR></TABLE>

well a relay works just the way u say it .....but a relay just doesnt go bad.....a relay fixes it self after it cools down.....it comes in contact and makes a full circut and if something is wrong in the circut than the relay heats up and breaks the circut and after the relay cools back down it reconnects the relay...and u have a full circut again till the relay gets hot and than breaks it off again....