Please Help Me! 3.8L Camaro 98 - Page 2 - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

TFord · 01-15-2011, 10:34 PM

had a sorta simular situation. I went through 4 alternators in less than 2 years. I ended up troubleshooting it to a shorted cell in the battery. Sometimes it ran sometimes it would do what yours is doing, and had died while driving too. eventually this fries the voltage regulator in the alt. the problem with finding the root of the problem is that the cell would get shook loose during driving, also the bouncing around from driving would end up fixing the issuse untill the cell came loose again. the tests they do at the car shops usually won't diagnose this, hince me going through 4 alt's in 2 years

xxalexmxx8926 · 01-19-2011, 05:27 PM

Lots of great replies! Today I'm going to replace the battery since it has a month of warranty left. Besides that I went through and looked at the cables. Found two suspicious connections. One going from the lead (+) battery to the alternator and it had a burnt/worn plastic exposing the wire. I checked the alternator to see if it was receiving the power from the battery and the wire seems fine. Should I replace it even though i just wrapped it with electrical tape and is functioning? also I found a copper wire exposed going into the crank shaft sensor. I also taped those.

What I find strange is how the car dies and after a day or two of just sitting there, it turns back on with no problem with the voltmeter reading almost 15 volts. Then it slowly decreases. And the cycle starts again. How is this possible?

TFord · 01-23-2011, 12:38 AM

Same thing mine would do. In my situation it looked like the shock from driving would shake out the loose cell in the battery and short the battery internally. But would do the same thing and shake the cell back to its spot. During this period one time I drove to work fine. Got off work, and started the car. Amps seemed low, I smoked and let the car warm up. Got in the car and the battery was dying. Hurried up and drove to my mech. while driving batt still draining, and everything was dying in the car. got to the shop and the batt completely died. Charged the batt and they did the testing and everything checked fine. Bad cell bounced back in its spot while driving and the the symptoms disappeared. Eventually this burned out the alt, which was what I thought the problem was, but it kept happening. Amps would start draining and then go to normal while driving. Usually everytime I got to the shop it would disappear, but like I said burned out 3 alts. Swapped out the last burned out alt and batt, havent had any issues since.

01-19-2011, 05:27 PM	#16
xxalexmxx8926 That Drummer Boy Drives: 2017 Camaro 2SS (Red Hot) Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: East NC Posts: 70 View My Garage	Lots of great replies! Today I'm going to replace the battery since it has a month of warranty left. Besides that I went through and looked at the cables. Found two suspicious connections. One going from the lead (+) battery to the alternator and it had a burnt/worn plastic exposing the wire. I checked the alternator to see if it was receiving the power from the battery and the wire seems fine. Should I replace it even though i just wrapped it with electrical tape and is functioning? also I found a copper wire exposed going into the crank shaft sensor. I also taped those. What I find strange is how the car dies and after a day or two of just sitting there, it turns back on with no problem with the voltmeter reading almost 15 volts. Then it slowly decreases. And the cycle starts again. How is this possible? __________________

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01-15-2011, 10:34 PM	#15
TFord Camaro Fanatic Drives: 2000 Z28 Join Date: May 2007 Location: Auburn, WA Posts: 1,808 View My Garage	had a sorta simular situation. I went through 4 alternators in less than 2 years. I ended up troubleshooting it to a shorted cell in the battery. Sometimes it ran sometimes it would do what yours is doing, and had died while driving too. eventually this fries the voltage regulator in the alt. the problem with finding the root of the problem is that the cell would get shook loose during driving, also the bouncing around from driving would end up fixing the issuse untill the cell came loose again. the tests they do at the car shops usually won't diagnose this, hince me going through 4 alt's in 2 years

01-23-2011, 12:38 AM	#17
TFord Camaro Fanatic Drives: 2000 Z28 Join Date: May 2007 Location: Auburn, WA Posts: 1,808 View My Garage	Same thing mine would do. In my situation it looked like the shock from driving would shake out the loose cell in the battery and short the battery internally. But would do the same thing and shake the cell back to its spot. During this period one time I drove to work fine. Got off work, and started the car. Amps seemed low, I smoked and let the car warm up. Got in the car and the battery was dying. Hurried up and drove to my mech. while driving batt still draining, and everything was dying in the car. got to the shop and the batt completely died. Charged the batt and they did the testing and everything checked fine. Bad cell bounced back in its spot while driving and the the symptoms disappeared. Eventually this burned out the alt, which was what I thought the problem was, but it kept happening. Amps would start draining and then go to normal while driving. Usually everytime I got to the shop it would disappear, but like I said burned out 3 alts. Swapped out the last burned out alt and batt, havent had any issues since.