KA24 dying, repeatedly...

[DJ Machine]

Ok my car is just one big nightmare right now.

For the last few months my car has stuttered under WOT...usually below 2500 or above 4000rpms, it would also die and refuse to start.

I go to an auto electric place, they determine through their test that its the ECU, no sweat, i go pick up a new one for $100 and put it in, also get new plugs for good measure. The car will run, but it still stutters (misfires?) fast forward to a few days ago...i was driving my car in the city and i double park to pay a bill...come back out...dead, push start does nothing, jump gets it running but only for a few miles.

The tow truck driver determines its the alternator, so we get a new one of those too, no sweat (relatively, it was a bitch to get out/in), anyway....NOW (after alternator) my car is stuttering really bad, like its firing on only one cylinder...so i baby it, till today...it dies, battery doesnt...but what happened before it died is that the radio went off for some reason. i am unable to get a jump, i try it 20 minutes later and it starts, i get a block from my house and it dies again..i figure why not check the oil? I do so and its low, way below the L line..so i jog home and get a couple quarts, just to be sure...by the time i get back it starts up again, then dies...again, about 50 feet from my house.

any ideas? no weird sounds, it didnt even stutter today, just died...no throttle response.

another weird thing is that when i took the key out, all the electrical stuff stayed on for some reason.

[Chokets]

possibly a burnt out relay or something, very very simular stuff was happening to my camry a few years back... turns out there was a melted relay buried somewhere in the dash that took FOREVER to locate... replacing it ($1?) fixed everything (though i had to get a new alternator) it's definatly electrical though, hence the ECU dying and radio and alternator, but i guess you knew that already.

[Wiisass]

Check the grounds. That could be the problem, i think. At first i was thinking bad MAFS or connection there and i guess i would still check that, but the alternator thing sounds like it's not grounded well enough. Hopefully, i'm not way off on this one.

Tim

[DJ Machine]

oh, one more thing....when my car died the first time and i got it towed home i heard it clicking underneath the cluster, above the pedals...i found a harness that was clicking and unhooked it.. had something to do with the turn signals cause they didnt work after that, ill go re-hook it back up (no idea what it does, i couldnt see it only feel it)

[DJ Machine]

k, reconnected the harness...doesnt click anymore.

turn signals work again...dunno

[DJ Machine]

argh i need to figure out whats causing this, i mean could one relay completely burn out an ECU and battery and **** up the ignition as well?

[DJ Machine]

update, i hooked a voltmeter up to the battery after getting a jump...volts slowly dropped until it conked out. does that mean the NEW alternator is bad too?

[Wiisass]

I dount the new alternator is bad, it's probably just not connected correctly. Do you have an FSM? If you do check all the connections for the alternator. If not just try and figure out what you need to check and check it. I would say make sure all the electrical connections are solid before you would worry about replacing more parts. So just get out the FSM and the multimeter and start playing around until you find something wrong.

Good luck

Tim

[DJ Machine]

i dont know, it ran for a couple days, i dont see how something connected properly could just come unconnected :-\

[Wiisass]

A loose ground connection can come undone during normal driving and mess a lot of stuff up

Tim

[DJ Machine]

the ground for the alternator locks on with a nut, but ill check it out.