Rewind back 2 weeks. Driving around and come to a stop. The car idle is bouncing up and down and i heard 3 beeps. Look at dash and see battery light on. Give it some gas to start going again and the light goes off. 5 seconds later another 3 beeps and this time the ABS light pops on. Cruise around for about 3 miles, go WOT and the light shuts off, car is idling normal again.

Fast forward to tonight. Driving and I noticed my dash lights, head lights, all flickering and getting dim almost to completely off as I drive. Come to a stop and after 2 seconds everything goes back to normal. Again, the ABS light is on almost the entire time except for when stopped. Then the battery light comes on. By this time i'm in my driveway and once again when I am stopped everything is normal. Car is now off.

What the hell is wrong with this pos?

 

ahhh...you must have got the special gm performance devision competition mode....ahahahah


















Maybe the alternator died. My buddy with an 08 2.2 just had an issue with his wiring harness. His car was acting wierd as well.

 

Well it has to either be a the battery or b the alternator. or c which is both and then i'll just bend over and take it deep from this car.

 

It may be your flux capacitor going bad. Were you above 88mph?

 

Check your Grounds for the battery and charger.

I would first check the battery terminal connections to the battery and the chassis(know issue)

Then check the grounds under the hood Think the one by the strut tower close to the coolant reservoir

 

Update

tried Restarting and the car was dead and had to be jumped. Got home and it drove fine no issues for the 1/2 mile drive. Then it restarted 2 more times before I went in and it's been sitting since. Battery connections are good, where do they go from there? Positive post under the hood is tight. Connections to alternator are unknown. They could be loose as I had it out months back.

 

1. The positive post under the hood does nothing, it is there simply so you can jump the car without getting into the trunk.

2. Definately one of the following: loose connection at battery or alternator, bad battery or bad alternator.

I think autozone or advance have machines they can hook up to check the battery and alternator function without having to pull them out of the car.

 

just my luck. had a test done and it came up replace battery. had a test on alternator and it came back ok. Although I still highly doubt my battery is shot, more than likely drained from the lack of alternator charging. All signs point to a bad one. And they cost damn near $300...

 

On the Charger it is usually the voltage regulator which Im pretty sure you can replace seperatly.

To test the altenators out put get it running and check dc voltage with a meter should be some where
between 13.5 and 15 volts without fluctuation rev the motor to 2 or 3 x1000 and watch the meter it should max out at around the 15 volt mark.

To check the battery -with the car off read voltage (dc) across the post and you should get over 12 volts with out the car running .
If you get 10 volts or less you have a bad cell and the battery needs to be replaced.
Most batteries consist of 6 cell at a voltage of 2 volts each (6 cells x 2 volts = 12 volts total)

Hope this helps

You should of had these if you have a altenator problem !
The IPC provides a means of customer notification in case of a failure and a voltmeter. There are 2 means of notification, a charge indicator and a driver information center (DIC) message of SERVICE CHARGING SYSTEM and CHARGING SYSTEM FAULT.

 

Haven't had either of those messages. The only notifications i've had are the battery light coming on and going off and the ABS light staying on while moving until stopped.

On the test readout for charging system it states under NO LOAD 12.77V and LOADED 14.11V. Car was revved up to about 2.5-3k.

I simply can't understand it. I start moving and all lights dim to almost out. Back at idle everything has full power. I did a 5-70mph pull and the entire time during the pull everything stood full power. Once I got back to cruising speeds back to dim again.

 

Has your battery ever leaked or corroded a terminal? My s10 corroded the posative battery terminal once and I cleaned it really well. A couple months later I started getting symptoms that you are getting along with a really rough startup on a cold motor. Turned out some acid leaked up into the cable between the strands in the wire. It began eating it from the inside out causing a ton of resistance which therefore wouldnt allow the battery to take a decent charge

 

No, never leaked once.

You know what really kicks me in the dick? My warranty JUST expired on Sept 15.

 

*****.......lol

 

Welp, it's the alt. I disconnected battery and the car ran at idle for a minute. Backed out of driveway and lights started flickering. 2 houses down the car shut completely off.

 

Are cars are a lot more complicated than that The charging system is controlled by the ecm ,bcm it also has different modes.

Body Control Module (BCM)
The body control module (BCM) is a GM LAN device. It communicates with the engine control module (ECM) and the instrument panel cluster (IPC) for electrical power management (EPM) operation. The BCM determines the output of the generator and sends the information to the ECM for control of the generator field control circuit. It monitors the generator field duty cycle signal circuit information sent from the ECM for control of the generator. It monitors a battery current sensor, the battery positive voltage circuit, and estimated battery temperature to determine battery state-of-charge (SOC). The BCM performs idle boost and load management operations.


Battery Current Sensor
The battery current sensor is a serviceable component that is connected to the negative battery cable at the battery. The battery current sensor is a 3-wire hall effect current sensor. The battery current sensor monitors the battery current. It directly inputs to the BCM. It creates a 5-volt pulse width modulation (PWM) signal of 128 Hz with a duty cycle of 0-100 percent. Normal duty cycle is between 5-95 percent. Between 0-5 percent and 95-100 percent are for diagnostic purposes.

Engine Control Module (ECM)
The ECM directly controls the generator field control circuit input to the generator. It monitors the generators generator field duty cycle signal circuit and sends the information to the BCM. The ECM will override the BCM control of the generator when one of the following conditions are met:

• The engine cooling fans are on high speed.

• There is a high fuel demand.

• The calculated ambient air temperature is less that 0°C (32°F).

Charging System Operation
The purpose of the charging system is to maintain the battery charge and vehicle loads. There are 6 modes of operation and they include:

• Charge Mode

• Fuel Economy Mode

• Voltage Reduction Mode

• Start-up Mode

• Windshield Deice Mode

• Battery Sulfation Mode

 

Very few modern cars use a seperate voltage regulator, it is built into the alternator on most modern cars.

 

Coblasts, are you trying to say it's not the alt? As far as I know, once started the car should run and drive without a battery hooked up. Mine clearly failed that test.

 

Ive heard driving the car without the battery in it can screw up the ecu. Especially if the alt is bad

 

What Im trying to get across to you is dont run out and get another altenator based on that .
Take it out of the car and have it load tested (at a good place )and if it is bad the works half done.
But there could be something else wrong thats causing the problem and I would hate to see you waste 300 for a new one with out being 100% sure.
If it was a voltage problem from the altenator than Im sure you would have a code of some kind.

 

Replaced battery(Stock one was actually leaking and there was acid underneath). Problem still there.

 

If the battery is leaking it is a sign of over charging usually.

Have you ever boosted anyone and had the cable touch each other and spark while the car was running.
This is the quickest way to F -your altenator.

 

Nope never.

 

Leaking from where?

 

Pos terminal. Not at the terminal but actually underneath leaking down the side of the batt to the trunk floor. There was a bit down there under it. Like I said, this originally started happening 2-3 weeks ago and I haven't driven more than 120 miles since so that could be when it started leaking.

Coblasts, do you think I could run a good alt on the car for a few days with the old battery? Only way I can get the alt is to return the battery...

 

Like I said before take it out and have it tested.

Dont you have warranty ?