electrical problem..

[ErickJohn]

Here's a tough one...

While house hunting yesterday it started to rain.

As it started to rain I notice my radio start to turn off and turn on slow at first, then rapidly.

My fog lights started flickering and turned off.

I knew what was happening as this has happened once before...

I did not turn the car off as I waited for the ferry. Thank god I didn't, because once I drove onto the ferry and shut off the car, I tried to turn it on again and the battery had completely drained. Ptu was clicking like crazy whenever I turned the key because there literally was not enough juice to click anything over.

Once I got to the other side an hour later, I got a jump from the ferry deck hands and she fired right up. Fog lights stopped flickering, and radio worked correctly.

It seems to me, water got somewhere it shouldn't have, any ideas?


Car has aftermarket head unit, an amp, and subwoofer. I remember having to run new wire from battery through firewall in order to power amp.

[stealthee]

Probably a dead alternator,

[Nates3stt]

agreed or a short to ground on your harness rubbing against something its not supposed to be and when it gets wet it completes the circuit check your engine bay harness also you could always simulate the scenario by wetting the the car and looking for sparks or checking for melted harness also if you have a dmm or dmov multi meter you can check you battery and alt and then do a peracidic draw test to se if its dawing amps when wet and if it is when dry/wet key on/off

[ErickJohn]

Awesome thanks for the replies guys. I have a better idea of where to look now..

The other day I replaced my thermostat without draining the cooling system. So as you can imagine, coolant ran down on that side of the engine and transmission. I have the active aero dam installed . whatever the coolant got into, it just completely drains the battery now. I know the alternator works Cuz it does start and is "drivable" after a jump.

What connections/wiring is in that general area that coolant may have gotten into?

[stealthee]

Just because it starts after a jump doesn't mean the alternator is working.

[ErickJohn]

So if the alternator isn't working and the battery is drained, what provides power to the car after I jump start it? My data logger says I'm getting anywhere from 12 to 13.5 volts depending on my rpms.