help!! i have no idea whats wrong..

[etlsport]

ok.. so im driving home from work.. its about a 20 mile ride.. 30 minutes

pulling up to a stop sign and the amp cuts out.. wierd.. but ok.. make my turn, start going up the hill and abs light comes on.. wtf? keep going.. have very little power (as in horsepower) but my voltage is reading 17-18V... yikes.. turn into my driveway (which is a very big hill).. not enough power to pull my vx up the driveway.. revving up to 3500 rpms keeps me in place on the hill but no forward progress

make it to the bottom of the hill in reverse (that was scary!) the vx is idling at 2000 rpms and still reading 18V

kill the engine, start it up, running normally, hit the gas to attempt the hill again.. the second i broke 2500 rpms same thing, no power, 18v and abs light

so i get to a parking lot and replace the alternator.. same thing, soon as i rev up high idle, no power, 18V

i tried running the VX without the serpentine belt.. that worked?? vx ran ok without the serpentine belt (except for no coolant, recharging etc)

called a few dealerships.. nobody had any idea.. so.. yea im stumped.. and my vx is not driveable at the moment


HELP!

[Gussie2000]

ok.. so im driving home from work.. its about a 20 mile ride.. 30 minutes

pulling up to a stop sign and the amp cuts out.. wierd.. but ok.. make my turn, start going up the hill and abs light comes on.. wtf? keep going.. have very little power (as in horsepower) but my voltage is reading 17-18V... yikes.. turn into my driveway (which is a very big hill).. not enough power to pull my vx up the driveway.. revving up to 3500 rpms keeps me in place on the hill but no forward progress

make it to the bottom of the hill in reverse (that was scary!) the vx is idling at 2000 rpms and still reading 18V

kill the engine, start it up, running normally, hit the gas to attempt the hill again.. the second i broke 2500 rpms same thing, no power, 18v and abs light

so i get to a parking lot and replace the alternator.. same thing, soon as i rev up high idle, no power, 18V

i tried running the VX without the serpentine belt.. that worked?? vx ran ok without the serpentine belt (except for no coolant, recharging etc)

called a few dealerships.. nobody had any idea.. so.. yea im stumped.. and my vx is not driveable at the moment


HELP!

Hi eric i just read your situation,what you explained it seems that some thing,some where regarding the electrical system went bad,i say so because your amp was the 1rst thing to go off.Looks like the VX starved of power at a some moment whilst you were driving back home.

Have the VX electrical checked.the ABS light is also very weird though,but start with the electrical,you must know how much amps the battery is pushing, is the best idea i can think of.

[etlsport]

couple more things..

called two dealerships in cali (anitas fav place in monrovia and one other place) both mechanics said WTF?

called the lead tech at my work.. he also said WTF?

and im not throwing a CEL even when the symptoms are showing up

[LittleBeast]

odd problems sorry. outside of the electrical gremlins that sounds like what happened to me when one side of the muffler broke off and the O2 sensor was killing all performance.

[PK]

couple more things..

called two dealerships in cali (anitas fav place in monrovia and one other place) both mechanics said WTF?

called the lead tech at my work.. he also said WTF?

and im not throwing a CEL even when the symptoms are showing up

Etlsport,
can only make an educated guess without a lot of diagnostics, but it sounds like your alternater, or voltage regulator, might have farted a voltage spike and caused your ECM to shat itself.
You would need to have a scan gauge connected while running and problem occuring. If I am right, the readings would be all over the place, if there at all.

Running ok below 2500 RPM sounds like a limp home mode built into most ECMs.

Good luck, and please keep the fam informed.

PK

[JGeorge264]

this sounds sort of like a problem I've been having. I posted about it a few months ago. Mine was only when I would first start out but my amp and stereo would cut out - complete 0 power - idled fine until I would give it gas and suddenly no power, abs light would come on, and the power would surge on and off.. it was a random issue so was hard to trace. I tried wiggling wires to no avail. Sometimes I would turn the headlights on and amp would go off,,, very frustrating.. it would work itself out after a few seconds so it wasn't as serious as what you're describing. It would happen randomly for a several days, then be fine, then bad for a day etc, I never knew when it was going to happen. I had the alternator checked out - was fine. Then one day a few weeks ago I went out to go to work, turned key,, click, dead battery... grrrrr so we hooked it up to the battery charger, went out about half hour later turned key,, NOTHING.. bigger grrrr.. pop the hood and the battery is fried.. leaking all over! The battery was about 3 yrs old with a 75 month warranty. So to end a long story.. I replaced it and have not had the problem since. I'm still baffled as to why but happy that it seems to be fixed. Hope your problem turns out to be as simple..

[pbkid]

well i cant help you much with the problem, but i can tell you that if your battery is putting out over 14 volts you amp will shut off to keep from blowing up....

test the alternator and the battery...those are my suggestions...

[nfpgasmask]

well i cant help you much with the problem, but i can tell you that if your battery is putting out over 14 volts you amp will shut off to keep from blowing up....

test the alternator and the battery...those are my suggestions...

That's what I was thinking. Something is overloading the electrical system. I'm no expert, but I have a scanguage and mine always reads around 12v iirc. When I flip my roof lights on I see it go to like 14v or so. I have never seen 18v...

Good luck, Eric!

Bart

[Jolly Roger VX'er]

also check any connectors to the back of the alternator for corrosion. I had gremlins in a Trans Am that turned out to be corroded connectors and the corrosion was "not easily noticed". It would vary from overcharging to undercharging and back to normal charging as the electrical system tried to compensate for bad connections.

[Triathlete]

Check to see if your battery is warm to the touch and/or the sides are bulging out. You may have an internal short in your battery which can cause a lot of problems. It happens often with aftermarket batteries.
Hope you get it all worked out.

[kodiak]

X2

also check any connectors to the back of the alternator for corrosion. I had gremlins in a Trans Am that turned out to be corroded connectors and the corrosion was "not easily noticed". It would vary from overcharging to undercharging and back to normal charging as the electrical system tried to compensate for bad connections.

[Rubicool]

I had a similar problem in my Porsche. I replaced the alt/reg twice and it truned out to be a defective battery. I assume it was shorted internally and it was intermittent. Replaced battery and it's been good for over a year now.

Good luck, hope it ends up being something easy.

[crotchrocket]

As well as above, i'd look at your amp, sounds like it earthed the +. Its more likely to be something you have added to the car thats gone wrong than something stock, imho. Something as simple as screwing the amp down and the screw touching the bodywork etc ?

But if it did earth the + then have you checked all your fuses out ??

[Gussie2000]

Hi eric.
Most of us came to the same concusion,your issue is electrical,the ECM is also exposed to get damage if the right diagnostic isn't done right away.

If you had any electrical work done on the VX recently then is time look over for possible mistakes.

Good luck

[tom4bren]

Eric,

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I know it sounds hokey but the battery could be your problem (just like everyone else has mentioned). Just disconnect the battery after you have it started & see if the problem persists.

Tom