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04-03-2007, 10:28 PM
Chris, those are great suggestions to DMaugle for a starting point. Especially the Bentley Manual. One of the best investments I've made into my car was getting that book. Very precise.
What we're overlooking here is a 20 yr old car, before I'd start isolating fuses and wiring possibilites I'd start with the alternator. A load test on the alternator might save alot of time chasing this problem.
DMaugle, just out of curiousity, what did the volt regulator show as a reading when you did the load test. If it's too low it is not recharging your car's battery. That means that ALL electrical components (fuel pump, ECU, etc...) the stuff you don't see & then there's the heater the radio the lights etc..., are all drawing power from your car battery when the engine is running. So when you use a window switch, or turn on the blower, use the wipers, whatever, they are overriding the other components that are using the available electricity. Try this as an excercise, fully charge up your car's battery. Then go drive it & use all the normal things you would use, windows, wipers, heater, radio. With the fully charged battery everything should work and there be no drain on the engine causing it to bog down. If this was a problem I was dealing with on my car, I'd start with the charging system first to make sure that all the electrical components are getting enough power to operate properly.
Good luck, please keep us posted.
What we're overlooking here is a 20 yr old car, before I'd start isolating fuses and wiring possibilites I'd start with the alternator. A load test on the alternator might save alot of time chasing this problem.
DMaugle, just out of curiousity, what did the volt regulator show as a reading when you did the load test. If it's too low it is not recharging your car's battery. That means that ALL electrical components (fuel pump, ECU, etc...) the stuff you don't see & then there's the heater the radio the lights etc..., are all drawing power from your car battery when the engine is running. So when you use a window switch, or turn on the blower, use the wipers, whatever, they are overriding the other components that are using the available electricity. Try this as an excercise, fully charge up your car's battery. Then go drive it & use all the normal things you would use, windows, wipers, heater, radio. With the fully charged battery everything should work and there be no drain on the engine causing it to bog down. If this was a problem I was dealing with on my car, I'd start with the charging system first to make sure that all the electrical components are getting enough power to operate properly.
Good luck, please keep us posted.
mike
89 Carrera
#402
89 Carrera
#402