Rep Power: 0

So last night I drove to a car wash.... Man, it was absolutely nuts. I was the only one there, and everthing was frozen; the brush, the spray gun, etc.

So, I get out, and I turn off the car, and I start playing with my car mat in the driver side. The stupid thick mats prevent me from pressing the gas pedal all the way down. So, I'm moving the mat around, and I'm pressing the gas pedal down like crazy to check for clearance, etc.

Once I was done, I figure it's best to keep the car nice and toasty, so I go and turn on the car ....

W T F....

When I cranked the car, the car sounded like it had a dead battery.... It took like 3 seconds for it to crank, and then all of a sudden, the dash starts to dim on and off a bit (very quick), and all the FAWKING needles in the dash start to go crazy! They move up and down (about 0.5cm) around their dials, darting back and forth, like it was possessed! After about 3-5seconds of this, the car went back to normal.

I then noticed that my trip meters had been reset, and that the "checking for chip in car key" light was still flashing, meaning it's still "looking" for the chip.... Yet, my car is already on! I drove home, and all the way the "cheking for chip in car key" was flashing for like 10 minutes....

I turn off the car, and this happens 3 more times. FOCK it. I don't want to be stranded out here in the cold, so while the car is still on, I drive home. When I get home, the car turns on fine.

What did I do??? Did I some how "flood" the engine????? I never knew we could flood newer cars??? Especially an auto??? (or is that independent of an auto?)

NOTE that I did NOT get a chance to wash my car / open the hood.....

 
Rep Power: 0

yer battery is shot..

or, did you already wash the car??
did you do under the hood??

same shyt happened when my alternator went for a shyt..
sounds electrical..

 
Rep Power: 0

btw..when the car is off the fuel pump is inactive so chances of it flooding are extremely minimal..

 
Rep Power: 306

I agree with DragonAce... you might wanna check your battery

 
Rep Power: 0

No, I did not get a chance to wash my car, and I did not go under the hood.

I was thinking it may be the battery, etc. But, I checked my radio, and my radio channels were still set....

Maybe I should go under the hood when it gets a bit warmer and blast away some of the salt and grime... Maybe the battery terminals have salt on them?!

 
Rep Power: 0

a weak connection'll do the same thing too i guess..
you won't lose all the setups in the radio until you completely lose power..

hmmmmm..weird one..
sounds like the battery is fine as you've been able to start okay since, which would lead me to think alternator..hmmmmm

did you have anything running still when the car was off?? like tunes boomin' or headlights left on or anything?? in the colder weather that kinda shyt'll suck the battery dry pretty quick..

 
Rep Power: 812

I can explain the needles going up and down. That happens when the gauge cluster is unplugged and plugged back in. In your case, the juice from the batt cut out and they reset themselves. Maybe it's just the cold, or you have a bad battery.

 
Rep Power: 0

This just happened AGAIN today!!! WTF?! It was a bit different this time. I noticed my ABS warning light light up, then go off.... This happened like 2-3 times within a 2 minute period. So, I totally turned off the car, and turned it on again.... The needles jumped all over, and I lose my trip meters again

Anybody have any ideas??? Dirty battery connections??? What's a good way to check the juice in my battery? I have a little volt meter... Someone tell me what settings to put on the volt meter (it's an analog one).

It could be my alternator, as it's been making a weird whining noise for awhile... Hope it's not that.

 
Rep Power: 286

Sounds like a bad connection. If everything starts resetting, it means your losing connection to your battery.

I have volt meter too, but I don't know the settings. My volt meter has a setting that says "12 V battery test". If you figure out the settings, make sure your battery is reading at least 10.6 volts or higher. Any voltage lower than that, means you battery is pretty much toast.

I would just get an AVR test done to figure out what the problem is.

 
Rep Power: 812

It's most likely the battery connections. Check to see if they're dirty or loose.

 
Rep Power: 0

start 'er up..

pull the battery lead (pos or negative, shouldn't matter)
does it die or flutter??
if so, time for an alternator...the alternator should keep the car running.....

if it keeps running fine, all is A-OK, then it's got something to do with the battery..
if the connections etc are alright, grounds are good i'd recommend upgrading to a yellow cap when you do replace the battery..

 
Rep Power: 0

Hey DragonAce, I never thought of that.... Maybe I'll try that out if I continue to have this friggen issue... Thanks for the tip!

Just wanted to provide an update to everyone...

Haven't figured out what does this stupid issue, but the good thing is it hasn't happened since. I stuck my analog multimeter to the two nodes, and well, I didn't get a good reading... On one setting the needle is off the screen, another one it's anywhere between 10-15v.... Damn POS multimeter...

Anyway, I went on the wkend to the carwash, covered my intake with a plastic bag, and blasted the entire engine bay... The battery terminals looked kinda icky with dirt and grit.... The whole engine bay was smoking with steam for another 10 minutes Thankfully the car started up no problems.... (Yes, I remembered to take off the plastic bag before starting it up)....

Didn't bother with the Green Stuff.... Too lazy....

I then slabbed on a big blob of your regular brownish AUTOMOTIVE GREASE onto the terminals in hopes of keeping them "clean"..... Let's hope I don't get this issue no more.