Rep Power: 347

I have been doing a lot of audio tuning, and for the last few days my car has had a hard time idling while I have had the car running and making adjustments. My car will drop below 500rpms when I am sitting in my car and playin music low...and several times I have had to rev to keep the car from shutting off...it has even shut off a couple of times. Yesterday I sat in my car for about an hour tuning, and finally it just shut off...the funny thing was that I was only palying the highs, and the bass was shut off

My car always starts with no problem...it is just having a problem staying on.

Do these symptoms sound like my alternator is dying, or do I just need to charge my battery up (since I basically sit in grid lock every day bumpin).

 
Rep Power: 0

If you have to many audio things in your car, then its eating your battery like a fatty eating cake. If you notice when you "bump" at night, your headlights will flicker or dim. You need to buy those things(i forgot what its called) that you mount and it charges and saves some battery energy from your car battery. Here, it uses to send some power to your audio not affecting your car.
Just my .02.

 
Rep Power: 812

You need an optima battery. Leaving the car to idle alot will just cause problems. If you get the yellow optima, you can bump your system with the car off and not worry about ruining the battery. But the car dying may be related to the alternator not able to provide enough output for the car. Does anything happen if the radio is off?

 
Rep Power: 347

car has only died when playin the radio, but it was close to turning off today when I was driving without the radio...but aftr driving around for awhile it was ok.

BTW...



...some people think Optimas are a Gimmick.

 
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The fact that your idle is dropping below 500rps suggests that your EIAC is faulty. Get it checked out.

 
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A Capacitor?

 
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...tell me what the EIAC stands for so that I know what to research.

thx

 
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Well he said it's only doing it when the radio is on. Do you have some kind of a huge system or something? What normally happens when the alternator can't supply voltage is that the device runs off 12v battery power. This shouldn't be a big problem with the optima unless you're doing it for a really long time. I have a yellow top and it works great. My system only has two low power amps and a sub though.

 
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EIAC is electronic idle air control valve. It steps up your idle when your a/c when your engine is under increased load due to a variety of conditions.

 
Rep Power: 347

Well, I would assume that my car is set up to run at about 1800 watts RMS, but I rarely use all of those watts


tacheon, thanks for the info.

I have been doing some searching on the site and I guess there have been some stalling problems with our cars. One thing that may be happening is that all that cheap Arco gas that i put in my car may be catching up with me...maybe I need to get some Gum-Out??

 
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I'd be looking more closely at the EIAC since you said the problem occured when your car is under load. See if you can make the problem worse by turning on your a/c. Don't go putting in a new battery, grounding kit, or anything else until you isolate the problem. Otherwise, you may be just masking the original problem. I'm a firm believer in troubleshooting problems, not masking them with other fixes.

 
Rep Power: 330

what about the basic things that make engines run crappy, air filter, spark plugs, oil...

is your battery voltage OK? if you are worried that your electrical system is causing problems, get it tested. costs like $5-10 and will help you narrow down what it could be.

 
Rep Power: 347

I have a voltage meter on my cap and I have been monitering it...It runs at 14.4-14.7 when I start it up, and it runs at 12.4-12.6 when driving...which is normal...this is why I am hoping it is not the alternator.

...I have been good about oil changes and tune-ups. The one reason that I think it may be fuel related is because whenever I am low on gas my car does not idle well, especially going up and down hills...but all of this happened recently with atleast 1/2 tank of gas.

...I have been driving around with everything off...I need to bump my car again and see if it keeps shutting off after driving around for awhile.

 
Rep Power: 347

BTW, thanks for everyones input

 
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Oh boy... If you're low on gas and that causes problems while running, that means your fuel pump is on its way out. Easy to check. Just put a fuel pressure gauge to it. However, from the sounds of the original problem, this is probably unrelated.

 
Rep Power: 347

btw, what RPMs does our car normally Idle at?

 
Rep Power: 812

Mine is around 600rpms when fully warmed up.

 
Rep Power: 347

Really?? My car is usually at the line just below 1thousand (I would assume 8 hundred).

...maybe my car is cool, maybe I was just playing it for too long without driving

 
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Myne idled at 800 too.

 
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I thought it was 600 for standard, 750 for automatic.

 
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after your last comment, fuel pump was what i thought too.

my auto was around 750, and the manual i haven't really looked but it seems a lottle higher if anything.

 
Rep Power: 347

Would the fuel pump be damaged if I have bottomed out on a speedbump?

...would trying gumout help?

 
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No. it's on the top and inside of your gas tank.

 
Rep Power: 787

Your alt COULD be dying but I doubt it... maybe it is just your battery that is dying.

I think they idle around 800 rpm

 
Rep Power: 347

I have thinking about it all day and I can't figure it out...maybe I have been just listining to my radio for way to long at idle?

The car always starts without a problem...it just has been either close to shutting off, or has shut off lately. I drove around a lot last night without using any electronics in the car, so I will bump a lil after work today and see how it runs.

 
Rep Power: 812

Battery only functions to start the car, unless the alternator isn't doing its job when the car is running.

 
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could have fried the diodes in the altenator, either connecting the amps up or running more amprage than the altenator can handle, take it to an auto zone and have it bench tested. if you grounded out a + wire by accident it could kill a diode in a second, or if you jumped someone, that could do it too.

 
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Yes. The battery is also a massive capacitor to stabilize the voltage. It's unlikely that is a diode failure in the alternator given the voltage you stated above with the car running.

 
Rep Power: 347

Well I played my radio on the way home toady and no stalls...when I got home I played it in the parking lot and looked at the voltage and played it loud...the voltage was at 14.3 when I started looking and it dropped to about 13.8 on bass hits...the car didn't stall, BUT the RPMs slowly got lower and lower...when I was driving it was at just under 1000 RPMs, but when playin it in the parkin lot it was at about 500 RPMs before I turned the car off...maybe I just need to charge the battery for a few days...how long does it take to charge a battery when driving?

 
Rep Power: 0

Look, it's the engine/alternator's job to charge the battery. Assuming your alternator has the capacity, your engine's EAIS will step up the engine speed to meet the increased power load. When you turn on accessories like the stereo, that places increased load on the engine/alternator. Same goes with your a/c. Your engine speed will drop slightly, but the EAIS steps up the engine speed to meet the load. If your accessories are off, it should take approximately 30 mins of normal driving to fully charge your battery if it hasn't been drained.