Auto mechanics in da house?
 

Exhibit A: Hour commute to school. 50 minutes into the drive, the stereo starts acting up. Also temperature gauge starts dropping towards C. Made it to school fine. No other obvious problems.

Exhibit B: Hour drive to chess tournament after school. Didn't make it. Probably 25 minutes into the drive, stereo starts acting up again. Was fine before. Temperature gauge again starts dropping. Shortly after, the entire car shuts down mid-drive. I coast to the side of the road and stop. No power, dead as a doornail. Have it towed home.

Exhibit C: Removed the alternator, had it tested at O'Reilly. It passed. Twice. Alternator is good. Put car back together, cleaned and replaced various connectors to the battery to make sure it was getting the charge out to the electrical system properly. Jump started car, worked fine. Electrical system worked fine.

Exhibit D: Hoped that was the problem, drove it around the neighborhood for about 40 minutes, no problems, temp gauge looked fine, stereo acted normally. Parked it to let it run another 30 minutes, to make sure the battery was fully charged. Checked on abotu 15 minutes later, it had died. Dead as a doornail again. Got a little clicking when I tried to restart it this time, but not enough to get it to turn over.

Conclusion: has to be a bad battery, right? I'm about to go have it checked, but what else could it possibly be?
:banghead: :banghead:

I would be very surprised if it wasn't the battery not holding the charge anymore

Flux capacitor.

Yep, sounds like the battery is shot. How old is the battery?

I'd ask my boyfriend, who is an auto mechanic, but we broke up.

Welp, the battery is fine. Just had it tested.

I'm in need of serious help quickly here.

Computer malfunctioning?

Car make/model year?

97 hyundai elantra

In that case it is probably the voltage regulator. Usually it is located with the alternator, but since you said the alternator passed, it is probably a separate unit.

How can I find that and/or test that?

Possibly a faulty relay or a problem somewhere in the electrical system. A google search suggests maybe a faulty ignition relay.

This account sounds very similar to your's. I didn't see a resolution to the problem though.

"I own a 2004 Hyundai Elantra with about 72, 000 miles. Approx 2 weeks ago I was driving home from work and my CD/Radio player turned off, my car started to "tug" "kick" back and slow. I pulled into a parking lot and was unable to get my car started again. It would just click. I had to have it towed to a garage, and they put a brand new battery in--towing and battery cost $244. 1 1/2 days later when driving to work after putting my lights on my car started to act the same way and started to slow I was terrified my car was going to break down in the middle of traffic. I was able to make it to the parking lot at work and then was unable to start my car again. It just clicked. I called the garage again very angry they didnt fix the problem. Again had to have the car towed to the garage where it was for a few days- they claimed it was the alternator and put a brand new alternator in however informed me they could make no guarantees and told me the moment I turn my lights on/have my AC on or am listening to my radio that I will have problems but if I dont have those things on I would be fine. They stated my alternator was testing/charging as it should at times but then when under more of a load it wasn't working properly. The garage told me my car should be fine. Paid the garage $497 and then driving my car home it stalled. I am giving up, and will be purchasing a new car as I need something that is reliable. I will never drive Hyundai again."

You'd have to have a shop/repair manual to say for sure where it is located. Without a shop manual, trace the wires back from the alternator to see where they head before getting to the battery. Something along that path is what is causing your issue.

Indeed it does. Can you give a link to this?

I saw it in this thread:

Hyundai Elantra; ignition problem automobile forum

This sounds very much like the problems Telle and I had with a Pontiac 3000 back in the day. Turned out the computer was totally FUBAR and required replacement. Once replaced everything ran fine.

Worst part of our issue was that the car would simply shut off at random times when making a turn. very unnerving.

Was my first thought too. Went through similar symptoms with my wife's car & my dad's minivan, both times it ended up being the @#$^@ computer "brain".

Honestly, the problem lies in that you have a hyundai.. they have by far the WORST electronics and things gone wrong of any car manufacturer.. but i digress

If i had to hazard a guess though, i'd say maybe having your computer brain reflashed may help... replacing it may be a expense you don't want to take on if you are planning on a new car soon.

I suppose its also possible the igintion relay is staying open after turning the car on.. causing the drain..

If there were a relay open or a short somewhere draining the power his battery would consistently be dead. The battery tested out fine, so I'm not trusting that its a physical fault. Which is what leads me back to the computer being an issue.

Bad chassis ground or and ECM.

Without writing a book explaining my theory, if the money wont kill you Id change the battery and see if it persists. I know the battery "tested" good but there is the possibility that extended prolonged drains (such as 30-40 minutes into a run) could be causing a breakdown that doesnt show up in a 3 minute battery test.

Rock Auto has the ECM for $353

Anyone wanna tackle this one.

2001 Voyager van-windshield wipers are switched off. Yet they run on a speed resembling low.

Thanks guys, you gave me a lot of good thoughts. In the end, I have decided that this car is done. It has 216,000 miles on it. I am not paying hundreds of dollars to maybe fix something when it is this close to death anyway. There are tons of nagging issues with it and it is just time to move on.

I'm thinking of a new VW Jetta, myself. I have until tomorrow to decide. If you want to weigh in on what kind of car I should get in this thread, feel free.

Requirements - fuel efficient + pretty reliable. I commute 1 hr each way every day. Hopefully that will change soon but it probably won't. Needs to be practical for a newborn/toddler to get in and out of (iow-4 door sedan type would be best, I think). Also needs to be 15k or less, really.

MJ4H, I relly like the Jetta, I have had several of them come through my office.

VW = Electrical problems out the ass.

Bigger question - what's this about a newborn/toddler requirement?

Did I miss something while I was on my self-imposed break from the board????

+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1

Apparently you didn't get the memo? To be a member of this board you have to have a POS car and at elast 2 kids ;) or working on them =)

There have been no official announcements of anything.
;)

What do we know about the Mazda2?

Or Ford Fiesta!

edited: didn't see the 2 till after I came back to the thread. I know nothing about the Mazda 2. That's the new one right?

Mazda Miata?

Jean shorts?

Yes!! Gotta have the jorts.

Went car shopping tonight. Came home without a car. The locals jacked up all the new cars with useless options and all cars were 2-4k higher than the base car I wanted, which put them out of my range.

Did get to test drive the Ford Fiesta, which ruled. Wife thought it was too small, though. Also drove a Toyota Yaris and Corolla. They were alright. Almost bought the Corolla, but didn't. Back Saturday for more.

If you found the car you want (Fiesta?), go to the manufacturer's web site, spec out exactly the car you want, then ask for a quote online. You'll typically get a really good price without haggling (I've done this twice, once with Ford and once with Honda, and ended up very close to the Consumer Reports best haggle price), and can usually get exactly the car you want, even if it means waiting for the car. And if you can't get exactly that car, you'll get a much better deal on those cars with options.

+1 with getting prices online. And if you don't like the price you are offered, you can haggle online with multiple dealerships. I did that with the last two cars I bought and ended up with great deals. Plus, you have the advantage of having time and teh internets with you so you have more confidence that the 'best price' you are being offered really is the best price.

Also, if you have a Sam's Club or Costco membership, you can get really good deals through them. Usually the cars are sold at fleet prices.

Given your driving and this awesome 4 dollar a gallon gas, I'd probably buy the fiesta.

Been working the internet this morning and found some pretty good certified pre-owns. I might be driving to Tulsa Saturday to finalize a deal on a Focus.

My sister had a focus in college and loved it.
It got totalled right before she graduated and being a new pharmacist thought she needed a BMW so went out and bought a new 3 series.

She told me this weekend she is thinking about selling it and buying another focus.

Totally random small sample size anecdote but take it for what it is.

Well shit, I guess I'm resigning from the board.

Going to a dealer is pointless nowadays, use a site like Edmonds or Autos.MSN and have them send the request to a dealer, you will get responses from the Fleet Manager and they will be a lot better then what you will get when you have to fuck with a salesman.

I'll say this again.. if you buy a new ford.. i can get you a discount.. roughly 1-3k off dependant on the model.. + all the rebates(if they have any)

Better than Xplan?

same as xplan.. just the xplan deals have gotten ALOT better recently

Success!

I hope you took Ragone up on his offer if that's a new car MJ4H!!