My Car is Possessed.....

I am having a huge problem with my SVTC right now. For some reason, my speedometer began flipping out and going from 0-80 and all around while I was stopped. However, when I started going, it goes back to normal. About a week after that, it started happening while I was moving too, only now, the tach is also going crazy going to 7500rpm and flying all over the place. Also, my parking brake light, ABS light, battery light, and gas light came on at the same time. I am hearing a buzzing sound from inside my dashboard. The lights on the dash get brighter when my rpms get higher, and then get faint at idle. When all the lights come on, my car eventually dies and will not crank back up. It will then not jump off either, but now comes the weird part: I can slam on the brake pedal really quickly, and my windshield wipers move once and then I can crank the car up as if nothing happened.

I have had my car at my mechanic for a month and they haven't figured out what it is. They replaced a couple corroded wires in the fuse box, but that didn't fix it.

Someone please help as I desperately miss my car!

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

battery or alternator issue ....check the main battery wiring

BrApple said:

battery or alternator issue ....check the main battery wiring

Click to expand...

The battery was replaced by the mechanic, and he checked all the wiring off the battery. I do not think that he checked the alternator though. Thank you for the thought.

Keep the suggestions coming please.


Also, I should probably mention, that after I slam on the brake pedal and the car cranks back up, my radio is back on 87.7 as if the battery had been disconnected. I just recently noticed this.

get a volt meter on the battery and check the voltage when the car is running and when it isn't running.

check your fuses.

in general when on electrical things start happening its because of a bad battery or electrical connection.

BrApple said:

get a volt meter on the battery and check the voltage when the car is running and when it isn't running.

check your fuses.

in general when on electrical things start happening its because of a bad battery or electrical connection.

Click to expand...

My mechanic has checked the voltage on the new battery, and said that everything was fine. He basically has run out of ideas as to what it could be, so I turned here to get some ideas from you guys.

ok the battery voltage is ok. how is the voltage when its idling, at 2k rpm, at 4 k rpm? etc?

and all main battery wires in good condition, clean, good connections, etc?

OFace12 said:

Also, I should probably mention, that after I slam on the brake pedal and the car cranks back up, my radio is back on 87.7 as if the battery had been disconnected. I just recently noticed this.

Click to expand...

Is there a battery tie down? Most likely it is hitting the hood and shorting out. That might be the cause for all the other stuff as well.

Huh - my car did this a few times to me. One instance while I was trying to start it the windshield wipers came on, all the lights came on and I couldn't get the engine to fire. I waited and then everything was back to normal - speedometer also dances once in awhile when I just start it in the morning...

Yay - I sure hope it doesn't turn out to be expensive.

Ok, do this. Start the car and wait till it dies. Turn the key so you see all lights come on, but don't start the car. Does the battery light come on? Let it sit for some time and do the same, does the light come on? If you have no battery light after your car just died and have it after it sits for some time your alternator is gone. Regulator or slipping.

Sounds like you have a bunch of stripped wires somewhere that are shorting out when they shift slightly.

Time to go over the wiring harness with some e-tape and a fine tooth comb. A good place to start would be under the fusebox and battery. Even though your said your mechanic looked there already.

If your impatient, you can try poking around the harness while the engine is running to see if anything off happens (it stutters, shuts off, etc.) and that'll give you a clue as to where the problem is.

BrApple said:

get a volt meter on the battery and check the voltage when the car is running and when it isn't running.

check your fuses.

in general when on electrical things start happening its because of a bad battery or electrical connection.

Click to expand...

Br Apple is right on. In addition I would look at ground points. Remove the connector, clean the wire terminal, clean the bolt hole, clean the ground point then re-assemble. Then look for frayed or damaged wires. I chased that gremlin for months and spent a bit of cash replacing perfectly good stuff. Took my regular mechanic a couple of hours to chase down the bad ground. That was worth every penny I paid him plus some.

Ok, I'm taking it back to my mechanic tomorrow morning and I'm going to take it apart with him. Last night, I dropped a friend off at his house, and shut the car off to get some stuff out of it. When I got back in the car, it wouldn't crank at all. All my lights were on, so it wasn't like before, but I would turn the key and just get a single click and nothing more. I let the car sit for a few minutes, came back and it cranked up. When it did crank, it sounded like it was slow turning over, which would lead me to agree with you guys about something with the alternator.