The indicator lights flash crazily and it takes a few turns of the key for it finally to fire up the engine. Also, my trip odometer keeps getting reset, and the A/C is on eventhough I intentionally left it Off before. I can't say whether this only happens when the engine is warm or cold, but it did turn over much easier last night after dinner for the drive home from the restaurant.

I tried to search, and my best guess is the battery. Any other comments/ideas? Thanks!

stock '99.5 AEB 1.8T FWD Tip

 

sounds like your battery is VERY weak and is pulling all power to try and turn the starter

 

the voltmeter still reflects it's typical charge of 14V

 

The power that is going to turn the starter is reflected in amps.

 

Your dash volt meter should be a little over 14.

You alternator should be giving your battery around 14.4 volts you can test that with the car started with one end on the large terminal of the alternator and the other to a ground. If that is at around 14.4 you alternator is fine. If not its dead.

You can also do a voltage drop test on the cable going from the battery + to the alternator by putting the positive multimeter lead on the larger alternator terminal and the negative multimeter lead the positive battery terminal. The voltage listed will be the amount of voltage you are loosing from one end of the cable to the other. you want to see 0 ideally but less then .4 is acceptable. More then that means your cable is bad.

You also want to check the voltage regulator which is the smaller cable on the alternator, with the car started put a volt meter on it and you should be seeing 14.4, if the voltage regulator isnt getting power the alternator cant regulate the power.

You can also check the positive and negative wires for their resistance. You should see less then one ohm resistance on both, .5ohm is acceptable. This can be done buy setting the multimeter to ohms and putting the positive lead on one end of the cable and the negative on the other.

To test the battery you need a full charge, the easiest way to do that is take it to your local autoparts store. To check the rest of the charge system use the steps above. The tests the autoparts stores do on your alternator are insufficient.

--dillon

 

when running... what does it show when you are cranking? Or without the car running?

 

I took it to Advanced Autoparts and got the battery tested. A quick replacement for about $70 and it started up just fine. Thanks again!!

 

14 when running, nothing when off, and bouncing around 8 when starting