car wouldnt start after i got out of work :(

alright so i was done with my 8hr shift about to go home. Hope into my cb and turn it on feeling pretty good cuz im going home then.......i turn on my headlight and car shuts off. got some coworkers to help push start it. nothing. Called my buddy to bring some jumper cables and success. turn on my headlights and it turns of again. no stall or nothing just straight up cuts off. ok so round two turns on i was just going to go home with out headlight behind my dudes car. so jumped the car and it turned on stepped on the brake and FAIL again. idk what to do from them i checked everything. it just didnt make sense. So then i notice my temp gauge was a bit to high. We picked up some antifreeze poured some in and ta-da it turned on headlight turned on and car kept running.
So i got my car home and it will get topped off with anti freeze tomorrow morning.
My question is why or how in the world is the headlight being on and my car not having antifreeze related?

bad ground????

honestly im clueless. although this reminds me of this time. on my nissan altima i had. my fuse box melted. like the entire fusebox including all the fuses. =d check those next.

Cb7lx91 wrote:

alright so i was done with my 8hr shift about to go home. Hope into my cb and turn it on feeling pretty good cuz im going home then.......i turn on my headlight and car shuts off. got some coworkers to help push start it. nothing. Called my buddy to bring some jumper cables and success. turn on my headlights and it turns of again. no stall or nothing just straight up cuts off. ok so round two turns on i was just going to go home with out headlight behind my dudes car. so jumped the car and it turned on stepped on the brake and FAIL again. idk what to do from them i checked everything. it just didnt make sense. So then i notice my temp gauge was a bit to high. We picked up some antifreeze poured some in and ta-da it turned on headlight turned on and car kept running.
So i got my car home and it will get topped off with anti freeze tomorrow morning.
My question is why or how in the world is the headlight being on and my car not having antifreeze related?

it puts more work on the motor so when u turn the lights on the motor has to work more to keep the alternator spinning fast enough to keep the charge on the battery so when the motor work harder it gets hotter so needs to cool down by shutting off otherwise u will blow the motor u should always keep an eye on your gauges like u do with your gas gauge

makes sense. I usually do idk how i managed to miss that. lol i was not trying to leave my cat there in an empty parking lot.

Cb7lx91 wrote:

makes sense. I usually do idk how i managed to miss that. lol i was not trying to leave my cat there in an empty parking lot.

lol

how low was the antifreeze?

This is kinda emberasing but the reservoir was bone dry .

Cb7lx91 wrote:

This is kinda emberasing but the reservoir was bone dry .

thats happened to me a couple times. lol

Cb7lx91 wrote:

This is kinda emberasing but the reservoir was bone dry .

Ok the reservoir was bone dry, but how much was in the radiator? lol

SiRWannabe wrote:

Cb7lx91 wrote:

This is kinda emberasing but the reservoir was bone dry .

Ok the reservoir was bone dry, but how much was in the radiator? lol

yea exactly what im thinking lol for no reason should your radiator be dry. unless u have a leak somewhere.

so i was driving back from work and my car just shut of on me.
had to tow it home could not find the problem.
heres some symptoms:
CEL is on
battery light is on.
tried jumping it but didnt work.
the car would crank without pushing the clutch in
car doesnt crank when i pushed the clutch in.
tried switching batterys. no luck.
i turn of the a/c switch and it cranked turned on then died in a few seconds.
can anyone lead me in the right direction. please.

U have a big mess buddy, And is almost impossible to diagnose over the internet. I would start by getting that code pulled and seeing what its telling you..

1. With the cel on and the battery light on, it could be possible the alternator is bad

2. With you pushing and turning on and off different things affecting starting, thats telling me your getting bare wires rubbing together somewhere.. check your alternator wiring and see if its torn, or 2 wires are rubbing together or just the overall condition.

3. Check your alternator belt tension. It should be pretty tight with about a half inch of slack when you push on it between the alternator and the crank.. If its loose, check belt condition and tighten up the slack....If its tight, Take your alternator off and go have it checked for free by an autozone or advance auto


Thats what I can think of for now..

even if the alternator is bad, you can run a car. at least for a few minutes. and he swapped batteries so it should have started right up, then died a couple minutes later. plus i dont believe the alternator throws a code. mine went out before, on 2 occasions. and my girlfriends has went out on her car and never threw a cel. but did battery light. maybe a bad ground? im not sure how 5speeds work much. but if it has something to do with pushing in your clutch go to the source, and check out the transmission.

first things first tho pull the cel.


edit: check your timing belt. when my cam snapped i had the same thing happen. except i knew something was wrong cus smoke came out, since a peice of metal basically twisted in half. but if the belt broke, you might not have noticed. this would explain why it wont start, and this would explain the cel, and if i remember correctly, if your idle goes to low your battery light, and oil light will flicker on.

The car runs soley off the alternator, not the battery. It only uses the battery to start the car up.

Ok I'm going to check the cel code once I get home.
Would a bad although. Throw a cel?

Cb7lx91 wrote:

Ok I'm going to check the cel code once I get home.
Would a bad although. Throw a cel?

A bad alternator might not specificially throw a code, but if you are shorted out somewhere, it could make something else throw a code.. one step at a time though, figure out the code and get back to us.

SiRWannabe wrote:

The car runs soley off the alternator, not the battery. It only uses the battery to start the car up.

yes correct, it does run off the alternator, but if the alternator is bad, it runs from the battery instead, the alternator take volts from the battery and places them back, if its bad it just passes straight threw the alternator and doesnt place the volts back correct?

when my alternator went out before, i actually was at work 30 minute drive on the interstate away. u know how i got home? i bought a brand new battery. placed it in, and my car drove all the way home, and died literally right in front of my driveway. when your alternator is bad, it drains the battery.

more than likely something shorted. have you replaced anything recently?

xjoshx wrote:

SiRWannabe wrote:

The car runs soley off the alternator, not the battery. It only uses the battery to start the car up.

yes correct, it does run off the alternator, but if the alternator is bad, it runs from the battery instead, the alternator take volts from the battery and places them back, if its bad it just passes straight threw the alternator and doesnt place the volts back correct?

when my alternator went out before, i actually was at work 30 minute drive on the interstate away. u know how i got home? i bought a brand new battery. placed it in, and my car drove all the way home, and died literally right in front of my driveway. when your alternator is bad, it drains the battery.

more than likely something shorted. have you replaced anything recently?

The alternator only charges the battery, and powers every system in the vehicle while its running.. otherwise yes the electrical systems will feed off the battery when the car is not on or not receiving power from the alternator

The alternator is a one way street.. SENSES battery voltage when the car is running, and only outputs voltage back to the battery to charge it for the next start and sends the rest of the voltage to the electrical systems that may be running in the vehicle. If no accessory electrical systems are running in the car and the battery is charged, the alternator will have a very low output

SiRWannabe wrote:

xjoshx wrote:

SiRWannabe wrote:

The car runs soley off the alternator, not the battery. It only uses the battery to start the car up.

yes correct, it does run off the alternator, but if the alternator is bad, it runs from the battery instead, the alternator take volts from the battery and places them back, if its bad it just passes straight threw the alternator and doesnt place the volts back correct?

when my alternator went out before, i actually was at work 30 minute drive on the interstate away. u know how i got home? i bought a brand new battery. placed it in, and my car drove all the way home, and died literally right in front of my driveway. when your alternator is bad, it drains the battery.

more than likely something shorted. have you replaced anything recently?

The alternator only charges the battery, and powers every system in the vehicle while its running.. otherwise yes the electrical systems will feed off the battery when the car is not on or not receiving power from the alternator

The alternator is a one way street.. SENSES battery voltage when the car is running, and only outputs voltage back to the battery to charge it for the next start and sends the rest of the voltage to the electrical systems that may be running in the vehicle. If no accessory electrical systems are running in the car and the battery is charged, the alternator will have a very low output

but it will still start and run. but not for long or very well at all, i did it for 30 minutes. wasnt fun. thought my car was gonna quit on the middle of the interstate.

I really dont get what your trying to get at josh lol

SiRWannabe wrote:

I really dont get what your trying to get at josh lol

even without an alternator, if the battery is good, the car will start and run until the battery dies. because with a cheepo battery i drove 30 minutes home lol

I still dont know how this correlates with his problem lol

SiRWannabe wrote:

I still dont know how this correlates with his problem lol

he said his car wont start.... he changed battery, still wont start. more than likely not the alternator unless something along the way shorted out.

no he said his car doesnt start when he does certain things, it will start up but not stay running for long

car turns on now.
it sucks tho i paid 100 buck for the tow for something i could have fix yesterdya -___-

heres the culprit/



fixed



aftermath of towing