new battery and alternator but no start! HELP!!

jmorris30

New Member
99 gsr- was a show car (we just bought it a couple weeks ago). Has 10k halogens, 2 12" subs, and airbags. Having problems at first with starting/ staying on while driving, so predicted it was the alternator/ crappy battery. Bought a high performance optima, and a brand new alternator. Worked for about 20 minutes like new, then car began to die again. I unplugged the wire to the system and left it unplugged. Tried to start the car a day later, nothing. Then it jumped fine, but not even 100 feet down the road, had no power, wouldnt switch gears, and eventually died. Jumped it again, and it worked like brand new for the whole mile back to my house.
The people who we bought it from said when they went to shows they had to hook it up to an external power source(they JUST told me this after having problems for 3 weeks). Does this mean I should get a capacitor to hook up the system? The only reason why I don't even know if that is the problem is because the system was totally unplugged from the car when it was still dying. Maybe wiring, but what to?
I am just at a loss right now and really need some opinions from people who know these cars!
Thank you so much for your input!

-Jen
 

BoostinTEG

New Member
First of all never buy a capacitor It just strains your electrical system of your car.
Do the big 3 upgrade that should be fine with depending on how many amps your drawing.
how many watts is your system?
And yes a new High output alternator makes a hell of a diff.
 

BoostinTEG

New Member
If i were you i would go to autozone and have my alternator bench tested.
It sounds like a alt problem to me, not the battery.
 


jmorris30

New Member
We just replaced the alterator and battery- im sure theyre 100%. The people before us bought a "high out put alternator" from ebay and I know they got ripped off because it was only in the car for a couple months, barely being used, and when we got it tested, it was crap dead. We just bought a regular alternator from autozone because now I'm skeptical of buying a high output. I actually have no idea about how many watts- its just one xtant 630x. (its my boyfriends car and he's not here). Thanks for the reply! Any other suggestions? I'm definately going to upgrade the big 3- but do you think it could have anything to do with the fuel pump/ icm/etc??
 

BoostinTEG

New Member
hmmm thats really wierd.
That is a very small 300watt amplifier so i dont think that is the problem at all.
Ive seen people around here running 1000-1500watts on stock without the big 3 upgrade in their acuras/hondas and all it does to their cars is cause major voltage drop/dim the lights.
Have you gone over all the grounds in the engine and made sure they are secure including the engine and alternator grounds?
 


jmorris30

New Member
Thats good to know- I have no idea how to check the grounds but a couple people have mentioned that, so I would love to try it. Should I just get someone who knows how or is this something that I can learn to do myself? (this is not my car but im here trying to fix it!)
 

93DA/Mik

New Member
A good basic multi meeter will be a good investment for any tool box.
You can check resistance of your grounds to make shure that they are good, as well as check voltages throughout the car.
I had a dummy mechanic that did not conect my 0gauge ground wire from my engine to the frame to the batt. and it quickly blew a $1,000.00 alt so they are inportant.
 

BoostinTEG

New Member
Yeah the grounds youd wanna check are:
Battery to chassis
Alternator to chassis
Engine to chassis
(These are the grounds you upgrade when doing the big 3)
Also you may want to check
your powerwire going from the battery to the alternator
Also check to make sure your amplifier is grounded right.
(probly wouldnt hurt)
And make sure your battery has no corrosion.
Until you can get a multimeter just make sure the grounds are secure and theyre is no paint under where they are grounded if so sand it to bare metal.
Good luck!
 
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