I'm just getting my 93 wrx ready for sale and it obviously knows it at it's just died on me! Need some advice on what the problem could be

Symptoms: went out for a drive tonight and when it came on boost it jerked quite violently. I carried on at 30mph for about a mile then I pulled down a side road to turn around. The lights dimmed, the revs dropped and the whole car just refused to rev. I then noticed the rev counter wasn't working and several relays could be heard clicking behind the dash on the right hand side

I pulled over and the car just died. I tried to re-start but the engine just clicked and the lights went really dim.

Thinking the battery must have been low (due to the clicking but no turn over) I called the wife who came out with the jump leads.

I jump started the car and it fired up ok but about 300 metres down the road it did it again, slowly dying until it just cut out.

I've tested the battery when we got home (she towed me back in a toyota corrolla, how embarrasing) but although it was a bit low (11v) I wouldn't expect this problem while the engine was running

No CEL on dash, plenty of fuel in and no shorts on battery terminals

It's bloody typical as the car was supposed to be going up for sale this week!

Anyone got a clue where I should start looking?

 

battery, alternator or connection on either.. also check the earth straps (connect jump lead between engine and neg battery terminal)..

Simon

 

Was your speedo working ???

With all the relays clicking , it sounds like a Dash cluster problem,
Reason i asked about the speedo is it could be a faulty Speedo convertor, Assuming it has been converted to Mph from Kmh !!

Bad earths , Check all terminals Etc
As per Simon Above & his post sneeking in just before mine @ 22:52

Dean

 

alternators goosed, at least the wife came in for summat, bet she moaned tho

 

Cheers guys. I charged the battery up last night and tried it this morning, all ok???

I checked the charging circuit and that appears to be ok (12v engine off, lights on then 13.4V with engine running)

It's possible that the battery was just flat but I don't understand why it would die while the engine was actually running and why it started ok when I set off on my journey

Dean - It's a 93 wrx so the speedo is mechanical, not electrical so that would work regardless. it was the rev counter failing that threw me but it's fine today with a fresh battery

I'll give it a good run tomorrow and see how it is after that (best not go too far into the country just in case)

 

possible battery was low and it drained it starting the engine and then driving with lights on it was not able to catch up.. double check the battery terminals are tight.. it could be okay now fully charged but often if the battery is fully discharged it kills it..

Simon

 

Another possiblity is a short somewhere. Alternator will still read out as if it is charging but in reality the battery is being drained. Happened to me shortly after I bought the car from a trustworthy guy (not). He had even removed the battery warning light from the dash, of course he did'nt know anything about it. I replaced the alternator, then the battery and it made no difference, it just kept on draining.

If all else fails check the electrics.

 

Just checked the battery again this morning and all appears ok so hopefully it was just as Jolly green Giant said, low battery, lots of traffic and the lights etc on. I'll take it out for a long run today and see how I get on

Cheers