Well, I have done so much work on my car I don't know what to check... The starter wont turn over sometimes... but if I put a little juice to it, it immediately cranks over.. Like, the lights, the door open beeper or anything wont work at all, put a little charge to it for a second, and everything works and it fires right up... while its running, it drives great, it has never once thought of dying on me so i am sure the alts doing good... and i haveent started it for 3 weeks, but i put a new battery in it that has set hooked up for 2 of those weeks, went to start it up today... wouldnt turn over but if I put the jumpers on the interior stuff starts working and it fires right up... Any ideas/suggestions are welcome.... new battery, fairly new alt, new belts,.... i have a fluke multimeter that i dont really know how to use hehe... Maby a bad engine ground or something? Maby I'll make a big fat ground and see if that helps?

how your terminals doin???

good luck

Do Armond's voltage regulator mod.

Yeah, I will probably use a different regulator once i fix this.. but if its a new battery... and hasnt even been started w/ that battery... and it wont start cause its dead already... i guess i should have tested the voltage when it would start and see if it was below 11.5 volts or so where a battery normally sits... i'll try that next time... and p.s. the battery cables imho suck ass... they are like shiny chrome.. came w/ the car... they have multiple things for different wires and my monster stereo cables to fit in and clamp down with allen wrench screws.... maby i should get some new ones... dunno if it could be that... but i dont know where i'd find ones to allow all the shit i need to hook up to it, and be good quality pieces that ... anyone got any good links for quality connectors?

Well, I tested w/ the fluke this morning cause it wouldnt start... but the interior stuff worked like it had full power.... The battery posts read 11.54, which is normal... the starter read 11.54 as well, the cable connectors read 11.54 as well, and so did the wires further down the line... so the connectors arent loosing any voltage...

This is quite annoying though. I figure it's gotta be in the ignition, or atleast I should check and see... since the previous owner had an Alpine alarm installed... I dont think it's the alarm, because I rarely arm it since its always parked in the garage. I see the wires the alarm tapped into on the ignition harness, can anyone tell me any ways to check them?

Again, I threw the Sears charger on the battery, voltage jumped to 14.5, started right up... maby something has a weak connection and wont start at 11.54v but with the added voltage it has enough? I hate wiring issues, they are such a pain... Or maby its the starter? I don't know a great deal sbout this stuff so any help is appreciated.

I think I got the same problem. had that problem for years now. it might be your starter relay or the ignition switch. I haven't solved the problem yet though. what i did was hook up a push start switch inside the car with 12v straight from battery to the starter. the only way the car will start is if my key is in the ignition in the on position ,and i push the start switch. what I'm doing i guess is working for me and has been working for about a year now. but i really think its either my starter relay or the ignition switch harness. the little wire on the starter is the signal wire try using a jumper wire from the battery to that wire with your key in the on position it should start right up.

I'll try that. It's annoying having an intermitten starting problem... If it was consistant, then you could fix shit until it worked, but intermitten you never know, hehe... I always try and park on an incline so i can pop the clutch if it wont start, but thats pretty annoying. I'll keep trying shit and post w/ questions, if anyone else has any ideas on stuff to test out... let me know.

11.5 volts is a little low IMO. It may be just low enough to not crank over. Try this. With the car off, measure the voltage at the battery. It should read at least 12.3 volts. It should never really go below this on a good charged battery. While cranking, the voltage should not go lower than 11.7 or so, if it does, then suspect the battery, or bad connections somewhere. This means check the connections at the battery and the grounds, and also at the starter itself. With the car running, at idle, the voltage should be around 13.3 volts, if lower, then the alternator is suspect. Now turn on everything electrical you can with the car on. Heater fan, stereo, defroster, ect..then measure voltage again at the battery. It should be around the same of 13.3 volts or so. It should be around there, and if you rev the motor, the volts should go up some, prob to 14 or so volts. If the voltage sags with all that turned on, then the alt is bad.

Well, it wouldnt start again... so I hooked up the voltmeter, 7v at the posts, never seen it that low, wow... the alarm was armed, so i suspect thats the culprit... I unhooked the terminals and charged the battery on a 2 amp trickle most of the day... Then I took out the alpine alarm brain and unhooked my 1 ott amp wire from the battery... Cause I figure those are the two most likely canidates... I drove the car for awhile(drivng like shit btw, from other issues) and shut her off... I just went to start it... fired right up, no hesitation... Gonna try again in the morning, and again and again for a few days and see if I found the prob... I called around and one shop said old alpine alarms are nutorious for drawing power...so I'm hoping I found the prob, wish me luck... and i'll post back and let you know my results...

Now for the fun stuff... throwing a p1390 - timing belt skipped one tooth or more code when i scanned the port today... would make sense with my low throttle hesitation and rapid backfire in the 2-step... after that, i got figure out where my timing advance is going.. hehe, gotta love em' huh, guys?

Didn't you say that you hooked up the new battery and let the car sit for almost two weeks. That in itself will drain the battery, that's why everytime you jump, it starts. After you jump it, you should take it on the highway for a while to recharge it. Or, just remove the battery and let recharge overnight.

your saying if you install a new battery and the car sits for 2 weeks or so, without starting the engine, it will drain the battery? I know it will over months.. but a few weeks... i dunno...

When I did jump the battery before, I'd either unhook the cables and charge the battery for awhile slowly, or just jump it quick and run the engine for a long time for the alt to throw charge in it(If I had to get to school or somewhere).

On a side note, have the Accel DFI guys noticed a voltage difference with what the DFI reads when you display it, and what the voltage actually is at the battery? When the engine is running, the battery is always around 13.6v to 13.8v at the posts, but the DFI will read 13v to 13.2v.

Brad, I did notice the slight voltage drop when I monitored it through the DFI. I'm thinking it's because of the extra load (plus, wire resistance). When you measure at the battery terminal, it's actual voltage the battery is putting out, so it's usually going to be a bit higher than when measured at a different point in the system.

In reference to battery being drained, I was out of town once for a little over a week. When I returned, the car wouldn't start because the battery drained itself. No light was left on or anything.

Sounds to me like the battery is toast. The battery in my TSI just died last week, and after charging it read 12.4 volts. As soon as you hit the key though, it would drop to 8 volts. I got it jumped and drove home from work, but it wouldn't restart once I got there.

With the car running, measure the voltage across the terminals. Should be at least 13v, if not the alternator is probably gone. Shut the car off and measure across the terminals again, should be at least 12v. Then, while still measuring across the terminals, have someone start the car. If the voltage drops below 11.5 volts the battery is gone.

I've got a spare alternator if you need it.

While running the alt would keep the battery around 13.7v, so I think the alts fine, and the alt belt is new... Thanks for the offer greg, but my alt has a lifetime warrenty, so I can just swap it out if it ever goes bad again... Actually, I wish it would go bad so I could feel I got my moneys worth, hehe...

I havent started the car today cause I took the maxima to school like usual and I am too lazy to get up earlier than i need... I'll check it tonight... but I bet it was that damn alarm...

Thanks for the help guys.

you sir have a dead/bad battery, thats it

I'm glad you all keep telling me I have a dead battery... that doesnt do me a whole lot... considering I have went through 3 optima red tops, and now have.. well I dunno.. the best battery I could find locally... I thought optima's sucked there for awhile... but obviously you see a pattern... being a draw on power causing the dead batteries... moral of the story: adding shit to an exhisting system can end up complicating things easily :-)

2 sucessful days now of the engine starting whenever I have tried... no hesitation, no battery light for a second, just zoom zoom... if it keeps up the good work, bye bye alpine alarm.... DEI here I come..

hook it up, maaayyyn!!!