[afkukuk]

I was driving to lunch today. Cruising along and out of nowhere, the car quits. RPM's go to 0, ignition quits, power steering quits, and brakes are almost impossible to use.

WTF? Anything to check for? I'm very hesitant to drive it until I can find a cause as to why this would happen. I just have a BCC and EBC on the car.

I was able to drive it back to work, no problem. Really scares the shit out of me though as I was barely able to turn it off the road into a parking lot when this happened.

 

[afkukuk]

No check engine lights or anything of that matter either. As soon as I turned the key "off" then "on" again, everything was fine.

 

[mike_smith]

Mine did the same thing one day....turned out to be loose battery cable. Pull them both off and clean the posts and connectors really good and make sure you get them back on nice and tight. Maybe your problem is something simple like that. GL with it!

Mike

 

[afkukuk]

Hmm..

well, I just looked under my hood at the battery. The positive connector is tight. The negative connector...well...I can twist it around pretty easy. Wait...yep, sure enough, I was able to twist it so easily that it popped right off.

I reseated the connector and tightened down, now it's not going anywhere.

I don't know if this has fixed the problem, or what. It couldn't have hurt. One thing I don't get: I thought when the negative terminal is disconnected, all the memory is reset (trip miles A and B specifically). Before I secured the negative terminal, I checked and these numbers had not reset. That's initially why I thought it is a short or something. Maybe I'm mistaken here?



Also, doesn't the alternator keep the car running? The battery just starts it?

 

[Boosted Rooster]

i once had my car die on me, for no reason....they only thing i changed was going from 87 octane gas to 93...20 seconds after leaving the gas station it dies...started it back up and never happen since...i thought it was just the car adjusting to the different fuel or something

still a mystery to me...


ur brakes should still work, just be kind of hard to push with no brake booster assistance

 

[afkukuk]

I've been monitoring voltage on turbo timer while car is running and it starts at 13.8, then after driving a while it goes to 13.3. I had battery and altenator checked and both were fine. WHAT VOLTAGE RANGES ARE OK? Immediately upon pushing in the clutch, when idle dips (due to poor idle control) the voltage will lower to 12.7, but return to 13.3.

 

[Vu]

Something like that happened to me too when I was doing 80 coming up on an 18-wheeler. Needless to say, I almost shit my pants.

It was a loose ground that caused it, but I replaced the battery and alternator too just to feel safe.

 

[93 twintrbo]

Possible faulty Ignition switch?

 

[shiftsk8r]

Im pretty sure it was your negitive battery cable since it was loose. But on the other hand, you're right that everything should reset if the battery cable was at fault. So maybe something else might be going on. Go to autozone and have your alternator tested for free so you can rule that out.

 

[botchilah]

You're battery might be going out, your belt might be a bit loose, or your clamp might be bad i.e. heavily corroded.

A car's electrical system should run between a very low of 11.5 volts to a high of 14.5 volts according to an electrical automotive electrician.

From what I understand, a car runs off the battery. The alternator charges the battery, which in itself acts as a regulator for the overall voltage limit of the car. You can run the car without the battery but it will do some damage to your electrical system especially if you're running hard.

 

[FLINTSTONESKID]

id be willing to be that it is your flux capacitor............

nah, u already figured it out, i just wanted to add some useless information.