Issues with my SC400
#1
Issues with my SC400
Hello everyone. This is my first time posting and I'm really hoping you guys can help me. I very recently purchased a 93 SC400. I drove it home two hours, it ran great and had no issues. The next day it started fine, but as I did some errands weird stuff started happening. My dash lights gradually got dimmer, flickered with the turn signal, and when braking they got very dim and battery light came on. When stopped at a light, dash was very dim, batt light on as well as some other random ones (ABS, Trac, Trac Off, CE light) and the engine idled really low, almost dying but it never stalled. When I got home, it wouldn't even crank again. I put the battery on a charger, it was super low but took a charge, albeit slowly. When I put the battery back in it fired up great. The next morning, it started good, but again over the course of about 2 hours of errands the same issues as above started to appear, culminating in me writing this post in my driveway with a dead battery. When idling the battery shows 13.2-13.8V, and at 3000RPM it's 14V, which indicates to me it's charging. I have no idea what could be causing this, and any help would be massively appreciated.
#2
Welcome to CL as a new poster.
Obviously, with a 30-year-old car, you are going to be taking some chances. It sounds to me like you may (?) have what is called a slow "parasitic" drain on the battery. This can come from a number of sources, but common ones are glove-box, underhood, and trunk lights that are stuck on...they drain the battery at a very slow pace, so that it may start your car for a while after a recharge, but not after sitting all night or for a few days.
This can be hard to detect because, of course, it is not easy to see inside compartments to check the light bulb after their lids have been closed. The best way to do it is to close the lids very slowly and look through the crack just before it clicks shut.
Obviously, with a 30-year-old car, you are going to be taking some chances. It sounds to me like you may (?) have what is called a slow "parasitic" drain on the battery. This can come from a number of sources, but common ones are glove-box, underhood, and trunk lights that are stuck on...they drain the battery at a very slow pace, so that it may start your car for a while after a recharge, but not after sitting all night or for a few days.
This can be hard to detect because, of course, it is not easy to see inside compartments to check the light bulb after their lids have been closed. The best way to do it is to close the lids very slowly and look through the crack just before it clicks shut.
#4
Welcome to CL as a new poster.
Obviously, with a 30-year-old car, you are going to be taking some chances. It sounds to me like you may (?) have what is called a slow "parasitic" drain on the battery. This can come from a number of sources, but common ones are glove-box, underhood, and trunk lights that are stuck on...they drain the battery at a very slow pace, so that it may start your car for a while after a recharge, but not after sitting all night or for a few days.
This can be hard to detect because, of course, it is not easy to see inside compartments to check the light bulb after their lids have been closed. The best way to do it is to close the lids very slowly and look through the crack just before it clicks shut.
Obviously, with a 30-year-old car, you are going to be taking some chances. It sounds to me like you may (?) have what is called a slow "parasitic" drain on the battery. This can come from a number of sources, but common ones are glove-box, underhood, and trunk lights that are stuck on...they drain the battery at a very slow pace, so that it may start your car for a while after a recharge, but not after sitting all night or for a few days.
This can be hard to detect because, of course, it is not easy to see inside compartments to check the light bulb after their lids have been closed. The best way to do it is to close the lids very slowly and look through the crack just before it clicks shut.
#5
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07-21-15 07:15 AM