Ok Im new to the forum, dont know if this is the right section to post this in but if it isnt could a mod please move it to its appropriate spot.
I bought a 1990 240sx on Monday. Ka24e, electro speedo, 5 spd. Tuesday I installed a speaker amp, 2 sets of speakers, headunit (no harness) and ran the wiring for a sub amp. Today I hooked up my 2 subs, hooked up the sub amp, had an alarm installed, and poured some engine treatment into the crank case. Car ran fine until about 20 min ago when I was cruising around. The rpm started fluctuating and then dropping and staying at 1000 (wouldnt rev up) I stopped, popped the hook, check my terminals, checked my amp hook ups and everything is fine. Start cruising around 5 min later, the exact same thing. I stop the car, turn off my sub and good to go again. Couple minutes pass, deck turns off, windshield wipers turn on and interior lights flicker. I managed to make it home ( car died a couple more times) What could possibly be wrong? Some sort of electrical gremlin? Could it be the strain that my amps were putting on the non upgraded electrical system?
Sounds to me like your alternator is finished. Go to a shop that can check it for you. They’ll let you know if it is charging properly or not with a tester.
ya man i install could be your alt or your bat or even a really bad wiring job
the thing is, now that you have all those bigger speakers and subs, you need more power to use them, your alternater is only designed to power basically whats on the car with a few minor mods. So what you can do, if you alternator is fine,is ask the auto tech about installing some capacitors, so that when you want to use your subs, because its not a constant beat, when the sub doesnt beat, the alternator will charge up your capacitors, and then the sub will beat and use that little extra juice that is in the capacitors so it doesnt fry your alternator. I bet you that they will tell you your alternator is dead, just so you can buy a new one but its probably just the subs, and speakers, keep them off for now, drive for a while, if your car runs fine then you know your alternator is ok. if as soon as you turn on your sub, and shit starts happening, its because your alternator doesnt have enough power to power everything and recharge the battery, OR your battery just wont hold a charge. so yah give it a try.
just my 2 cents.
goodluck
Is there anyway that I can test the alt myself using my multimeter? If it is the alternater, and I just charge the battery good and disconect everything, will I be able to make it to a shop without the car dying?
When I say disconnect everything, I mean stereo wise…
Where can I get a high output alternator for my car? I heard that a rewind on a hitachi alt will give like 120amp or something, and there is the Nissan quest, which puts out 110, is supposed to work aswell. What are my options so that I can still run my stereo? My sub amp is pushing 600watts rms. I have heard that this alone draws 90amps. Then I have an Alpine MRV-F340. I dont know how much current that draws.
I think that the prob is solved. It was a loose battery terminal, really, really loose. The positive terminal was hardley even on there. I somewhat suspected that last night because I knew that it was loose. I tightened it up, took it for a cruise and it was fine. Im not running my subs right now thouhg, and Im going to leave that until I upgrade my electrical system.
like i said if you keep your subs, off you should be ok, you can put a deck in any car and it will not kill the battery or alternator. just run your car in the drive way and see if it starts up easly then just let it run, if nothing inside work(eg, lights wipers, ac,anything then your alt, is probably fried, but if you want to buy one, try a auto wrecker!
if you but a bigger alt and everything runs fine, and then you decide to take out your subs, SWITCH TO A SMALLER ALT! if you dont your more powerful alt, will kill your battery because its producing to much energy and nothing is using it!
hope this is helpful to you.
Lots of guys run subs in 240s with no problem. Once you know for sure the car is running mint, hook em up again and see.
I would bet 99% that its your alternator gone. You’re basically trying to run everything off the battery right now. I had the exact same thing with my car… the stereo would turn off every time i pressed in the clutch, etc etc :lol:
It eventually wouldn’t spark at all, sputtered out and died.
im sure its ok for a while, but over time your alternator is going to burn out becuase its working so hard.
same as lowering spring, when you put them on stock struts/shocks your car runs ok for a year then all of sudden the shocks are dead.
kinda the same with the alternator.
Well it was just the loose terminal for now. I have my subs hooked up again but they are turned way down and I am prob going to pull them tomorrow. Im glad that was all it was.