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Car shuts off while driving and loses all power

Tiny
JOSHR25
  • MEMBER
  • 2002 MITSUBISHI GALANT
  • 198,200 MILES
The car won't stay idled and have to keep foot on the gas to keep idled at 2000 rpms. Car misses and drives bad until racing 45 or 50 mph. After reaching the speed it will drive fine until turning car off again. But now the car shuts off and loses all power. I had alternator checked from the car shutting off while driving. It drains down the battery and have to jump it off everytime. Now the car won't go a mile before losing all power. After jumping it off the car only moves two feet. Had to keep jump starting car all the way home. So far I've cleaned out the throttle body, replaced two alternators, a new battery, and replaced spark plus. Anyone know what could be pulling all the energy out of my car? I've had the car for 8 years. Only problem I've had since this was the timing jumped at 102,000 miles. Please help! I don't know if its a fuel pump or electrical problems or what could be causing this.
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Sunday, June 2nd, 2013 AT 2:28 PM

7 Replies

Tiny
KHLOW2008
  • MECHANIC
  • 41,815 POSTS
Did you perform on vehicle charging test? The alternator is most probably not charging as required and it could be due to a bad fusible link or harmonic balancer.
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Monday, June 3rd, 2013 AT 1:28 PM
Tiny
JOSHR25
  • MEMBER
  • 5 POSTS
I'm not really sure if what I had done is same thing you're talking about but I can a test on the alternator and it was reading 12.6 or 12.7 while the car was running but haven't checked anything else with the alternator besides looking for bad wires
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Monday, June 3rd, 2013 AT 2:15 PM
Tiny
KHLOW2008
  • MECHANIC
  • 41,815 POSTS
12.7 or 12.7 volts is insufficient charging. You need the alternator to be charging at 13.5 to 14.5 volts.

With engine running, turn on all electrical equipment and test the charging voltage. Run the engine for a longer period and check again. If it is not as specified, the alternator is bad.

Btw, test the charging voltage at the alternator main wire. If it is alsmot similar to the voltage between battery terminals, the wiring should be good.
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Monday, June 3rd, 2013 AT 2:23 PM
Tiny
JOSHR25
  • MEMBER
  • 5 POSTS
I'm sorry you're right it was at 14.7 I had to recheck it. But I'll go back and check the main wire to see what it reads. If it does read the same could a fuel pump by any means keep shutting the car off while driving like that? I've had the car since it was 3 years old and nothing has ever went out besides it jumping time 3 years ago and now this problem here.
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Monday, June 3rd, 2013 AT 2:41 PM
Tiny
KHLOW2008
  • MECHANIC
  • 41,815 POSTS
If charging was at 14.7, that should be good but keep running abd testing for a longer period of time. A bad harmonic damper would have the voltage dropping when the damper starts lossing grip. Check the crank pulley, note is it moves in a wavy manner. If you have belting noises, that could be an indication it is bad.
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Monday, June 3rd, 2013 AT 2:54 PM
Tiny
JOSHR25
  • MEMBER
  • 5 POSTS
Had everything looked at come to find out my intake was cracked all the way around. Was only thing that I didn't take apart to look at. Thanks!
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Sunday, July 7th, 2013 AT 2:26 AM
Tiny
KHLOW2008
  • MECHANIC
  • 41,815 POSTS
So you have the problem fixed.

Nice work.
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Sunday, July 7th, 2013 AT 3:32 AM

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