tone

ok so, anyone here in NYC knows how snowy this past friday morning was...took me an hour and a half to get to work (usually takes me 15 minutes)... the traction sucks...especially with my tires...hardly wanted to move....ok....i get to work, park the car and 8 hours later i come out and the battery is dead.... i get a jump start from a friend and i head home.... on the way home i notice that my speedometer is dead...and my odometer is stuck at 84xxx miles.... totally frozen...

( i replaced my battery with an optima red top)

the next day i take the car out to see a friend and install my chrome handles....i look at the dash and notice that now not only is my speedometer dead alond with my frozen odometer... now the gas meter is going crazy, its going up and down.... from 1/4+ tank left to the tank light turning on... up and down constantly....i keep driving and i make a stop....left it idling for 10 minutes... the engine began to rumble and shake...the idle dropped to nothing and the engine stalled....
i tried to turn it back on... the crank was normal... the car would KINDA turn on for a half a second but the rpm's were still low and the car would turn off again.....i had to get the car tow'd

This morning i wake up searching for a mechanic... i walk outside... put the key in the ignition....
and guess what?... the car turns on JUST fine.

im not taking a chance with the car right now.... it will probably stall again and leave me for dead wherever it wants... i need a mechanic asap who's knowledgable on these types of things....
im guessing the injectors a clogged.....or the filter....or the gas pump and messed up.....

what do you guys think? HELPPPPPPPPPP also any mechanic recommendations are appreciated... (im in the Queens area)

Vette Boy

Sounds like your battery is bad or the contacts between the battery cables and the battery posts aren't right. I'd clean up the posts and cables and make sure they're tight. If the problems persist, I'd suspect you got a bad red top, assuming it's new. My red top only lasted about 2 years.

GWELEX

I had these problems when I first picked up my GS back in August. Gauges acting weird, rough running, sometimes it would start fine, sometimes it would be deader than door nail, occasional shudder while idiling. Just plain weird stuff, thought I bought myself a real lemon. Turned out to be a battery with 2 dead cells, bought a new one and I haven't had a problem since, it's been the dream car I expected. I know you stated you have a Optima red top, is it new? (my old battery looked brand new but it was still bad), the problems sound so similar I just had to post my cure.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

The battery performance varies with temperature. When the weather is colder, the water inside the battery because colder and could potentially freeze up. When this happens, the electrolytes that are needed to transfer charge is not contacting because of the solid water. Weird things happen when the weather is cold.

GoFaSSter

iTrader: (1)

Just because the battery is new does not necessarily mean that it has a full charge. Make sure it is completely charged before you condemn the battery.

tone

well the battery is brand new... 2 days old to be exact... im pretty sure its not that... the cranking is perfect.... when the car turns on... it seems like gas is not getting to it and the rpm just goes to zero....like something is clogged.... the engine actually turned on for like 5 seconds last night and all i got was a heavy rumble like the car was really trying to stay on but the revolutions were too low to do so...really doubt its the battery.....

and yes.. this has all begun with the cold.... its never acted up this bad... but is it really supposed to?... am i supposed to cross my fingers when i go out and hope that the car gets me back home?... i didnt think that would happen with this car..... now...i dont trust the car... im not gonna take it out and have it stall out somewhere.... this sucks... MORE SUGGESTIONS PLEASE!!!!!!

tone

your right... and like i said before the battery cranks up powerfully....this also happened occasionally with my old battery...just a few times *most in the cold....id turn the car on and the idle would drop to zero... and turn right off so id restart the car.... it would continue to idle low until i just put the car in drive and drove off........but last night the car didnt even give me a chance to start it.... when it actually started...and i hit the gas trying to keep it reving.... the engine was not responding to the gas pedal.... like it wasnt even being pressed...

chuckb

a brand new battery can still act like that if the termials are loose or corroded. did you freshen up the terminal/post connections with a wire brush and make sure they are clean & grabbing tight on the battery?

from the sputtering start and stall, sounds like maybe a fuel filter or pump?

salimshah

With the old battery dying, your ecu may have read some bad codes from sensors.

I would start by clearing out the ecu. Disconnect the battery/fuse for an long time. 1 hr would be sufficient, some say as short as 10mins.

With this the ecu will be wiped out and in couple of days thing would be optimized again.

Salim

GWELEX

Okay, if you're confident the battery is not the issue, then my next suggestion is the fuel system. Now I'm not a fuel injection guy, (huge carbs on my VW's), but I do know that FI has a cold start circuit with valves, sensors, etc. Once you find a good local mechanic this should probably be his primary focus. Sorry I can't make other suggestions.

tmf2004

iTrader: (15)

I was going to say fuel pump or relay?

tofu_house

iTrader: (2)

i know people were pointing out fuel problems but that wouldn't account for the gauge problems would it?

i think the connection with the battery is bad or the ECU is having trouble reading the codes.

Make sure you reconnect the battery securely and disconnect your ECU and reconnect it.

tone

those all sound like great ideas.... i just had a mechanic come check the car out and he told me that the wire that holds on to the battery to keep my amps powered could be sucking way too much out of the battery (being that i have 2 amps a sub box, coaxils in the back and some components....with no capacitor)
and that could be the battery issue..... the low idling/ stalling was my idle speed controller which needed to be changed....i also have a vacuum leak and hes replacing the drivers side vacuum rail... im also doing other things... im getting the transmission filter / fuel filter / amsoil for the transmission + motor done.....

basically he pointed out that the main problems were the vac leak the idle speed controller and the amp line connected to the battery, he suggested i get a separate battery to connect my sound system to...

what do you guys think about this?

tone

im also gonna check out the prices for these things... i dont wanna get ripped off. =D so if someone knows a place where i can get all these peices for a good price let me know...

we didnt speak about the speedometer being dead and the odometer freezing, ill keep you posted on what he says


another funny thing is.... being that the car sounded like it was choking up and not getting gas.... nothing about the fuel pump or clogged injectors was bought up..... hmmph.

GSoup

Tone that still doesn't make sense.... the car was turning over it just wasn't getting any fuel by the way it was acting. ... what i didn't think of was maybe your fuel lines froze last nite when we were out cause it was brick for what ever reason.

do what i told you go to the shop i put you onto over near the rs strauss that we went to... they know their shiiiiiznit... they do all the work for the almost all the car dealers on northern blvd over there... hit me up later and let me know what the deal is...

idle speed control is about $220
vacuum rail??? do you mean the driver side fuel rail??? if its the rail it should be about $75 ...

aighhht big tone..talk to ya lataaaa....