Haunted 99 se Electrical System

[betadawg]

Yes is bright and tight.

So I'm driving down the road, and the radio battery fuse pops, then the airbag light lights up, and all of a sudden my door locks start to open and shut nonstop like a phantom 5yr old is playing with the switch. What's going on here? I replaced the fuse and it just keeps poping. So I disconected the battery and recleaned the connections, and now my battery light will come on for 20 seconds about every ten minutes, but the fuse, airbag light, and door lock issue has stopped.

What's going on here? Bad ground? Short?

[rixGAphx]

Failing battery in the OEM stereo headend?
The battery in there is a very long-lived lithium ion type, and I've never had one fail.
But eventually it will, so mebbe this is what happens when it does??

[DomestikDemon]

clean the battery connections....Ive heard of vehicles doing all sorts of weird things becuase of this

[sudden_impulse]

Originally posted by betadawg
So I disconected the battery and recleaned the connections, and now my battery light will come on for 20 seconds about every ten minutes, but the fuse, airbag light, and door lock issue has stopped.

He did clean the connections.

[rixGAphx]

And he's blowing a fuse.
Fuse-blowing is from short-circuits, or a similar fault that is obviously getting adequate current (or it wouldn't have the power to blow).

Mebbe that little radio battery has corroded, like the battery in an unused flashlight: All grungy all over, and causing a short-circuit.

[BattousaiX23]

do the inside lights and outside lights blink as well? must of your problems sound like the bcm computer, my dad had a 01 impala that did the exact same thing as yours but his lights blinked.

[betadawg]

on the way to work this morning, I lost all power and the whole dash board lit up, I pulled over restarted and all was fine. I'm thinking it might be the voltage regulator in the alternator. Any thoughts?

[betadawg]

Ok the car died on my way home from work. AAA tried jumping it and got it started. I had them test the battery and it was reading 8 volts, tried to limp home and it died. I checked all the grounds and they are tight.

[HornetGT141]

I'm pretty sure that it is the alternator on its way out.

If the battery is getting jumped and started then it has to be the alternator that isn't charging the battery up while the car is on thus leading to it dying while driving.

[rixGAphx]

Originally posted by HornetGT141
I'm pretty sure that it is the alternator on its way out.

If the battery is getting jumped and started then it has to be the alternator that isn't charging the battery up while the car is on thus leading to it dying while driving. Or that damned POS cable is corroded, hidden inside the molded red rubber boot.
Even if the alternator is fine, and the battery is fine, power won't get from one to the other if that cable is crappy inside.

Good luck,
-Rick

[betadawg]

I'm pulling the alternator in the morning and taling it to autozone to be tested. I talked to a mechanic tonight and he said that 90% of the time its a bad cable, but rarely a connection as GM engineers the conections for American Northeastern winters. But since I can't eyeball an issue I'l start with that alternator and keep everyone posted.

[HornetGT141]

Originally posted by rixGAphx
Or that damned POS cable is corroded, hidden inside the molded red rubber boot.
Even if the alternator is fine, and the battery is fine, power won't get from one to the other if that cable is crappy inside.

Good luck,
-Rick

Yeah, I forgot that my POS cable to the engine bay's fuse box was pretty bad too. He could also check the alternator's POS cable too in its boot.

[SE2000]

Do a load test on the battery also, could be plates shorting. Alt. kicks in, fuses can go pop.

[betadawg]

Hey there,

This morining I changed out the alternartor (the eingine side of the old one was badly corroded) gave the car a jump and she purred to life once again. I took it for a half hour drive and had no issues other than dropping $ 200 for a new alternator and tools. Next paycheck I'll get a new battery for good measure. I don't know if this will fix the radio fuse and door locks (bad voltage regulator sending spikes?), but I'll keep an eye on it and report back if there is any news.

Thanks to everyone for your help, and the step by step instructions for replacing the alternator in the how to section were the bomb diggity. Far better than a Haynes Manual.

[betadawg]

case closed. I changed out the alternator and have gone 500+ miles without a glitch. I talked to a mechanic and he said that the alternator cutting in and out would creat amperage bursts, which since the radio has an amplifier in it would create a large enough burst to pop the fuse and create other havoc with the electrical system. My new motto "Just change the darn alternator."