I’ve been having electrical problems with my car–while I’m driving the electrical system occasionally flickers, and has gone out entirely for a few seconds in a couple of cases. Basically everything electrical on the dashboard (navigation system, radio, etc) shuts off.
I took the car to the dealer who tested everything (including the alternator) and didn’t find any problems. Instead they’re telling me the problem is that my battery is bad. I’ve always thought that when a car is running the battery doesn’t have any input to the system at all. E.g., after the car has started you could remove the battery entirely and the car would keep running. Is my knowledge outdated?
I went ahead and replaced the battery, but I’m not sure if that will actually fix the problem. Should I take the car to a different shop, or is it possible that the battery really was the problem?
I had that happen once. Every time I turned on the headlights or even the turn signal, the engine stuttered. I was driving from Los Angeles to the Bay Area, at night (past midnight) and low on gas, and I was afraid if I shut the engine off I would not be able to start it again.
I made it all the way home with hardly a thimbleful of gas to spare. Next day, it started okay and I went and gassed up, then to the mechanic. Yes, turned out the battery was bad, and a new battery solved it all.
No, I didn’t know either that it might happen that way.
I concur with the bad ground. If all your power was going out, you wouldn’t be writing this because you’d be dead after all your brakes and steering shut off in traffic, but if it’s just the dash cluster you can trace it back from the fusebox if you’ve got a wiring diagram and a multimeter and small hands if it’s a newer car. I mean, cars still HAVE fuseboxes, right, or are they gone now too? Check your fuses too if you have them. I had a Mazda and they had what they labelled a ‘room fuse’ in the box actually worked the radio, fan and a bunch of other seemingly unconnected stuff. Finding that was a HUGE timesaver when everything went out at once on me.
I’ve had similar problems with a bad battery a couple of times. Mine manifested itself in wild swings of the tachometer needle, even when just idling. In one case, the battery post was loose (I went to remove the cable clamp, and the entire post turned, so I guess the battery broke internally).
I’ve also had battery cables go bad, so they are worth checking. Luckily they are large and easy to trace. Ah, the joys of a 25 year old truck.
Ive had some electrical issues on my motorcycle that I wonder if its caused by a bad battery. Sometimes itll crank over, and other times the electric start wont do anything. When that happens, I honk the horn, hit the starter, and starts up everytime. Odd…
It’s 99% sure the battery. That’ll *probably *fix it in one step. BUT …
If the funky symptoms continue with a new battery, suspect the battery cables and/or various engine to chassis grounds. You NEED to get those resolved ASAP.
The first time the bad ground lifts at random while you’re cranking and all 500 starter motor amps ground through your car’s central computer, well … it’ll let all the very expensive magic smoke out of that computer and you’ll be looking at a totaled car.