Ok thank you I will have to try to do that!

 

Batteries have a bar that goes across inside connecting the cells. This can come loose, so sometimes it makes contact, sometimes it doesn't.

Pull the battery and take it to a store that has a big complicated battery tester and tell them you want a complete test. This takes about half an hour.

 

Maybe one of the cables has electrolysis and can't carry the current to turn the starter.

You said that your clock is dim and your battery is newer. Do your cables have a lot of corrosion on them? If so that is a place to start no pun intended. You can't see what's going on inside your cables unless you remove the insulation.

No one ever thinks of this but it does happen and you may have hastened your cables demise with the arc out that you did.

Not too sure what else it could be as you have replaced the starter already and it's unlikely that you would have got a bad one to replace it with. Hope this helps.

 

sounds like a sticky solenoid...

 

I ran into the same problem.. Replaced the battery , replaced starter, car will crank but my voltage is all jacked up... I have the voltage meter and it will go from 10-12-14 while driving... Not sure the problem could be...

 

I have a 2006 EVO RS... About a month ago I started noticing that my voltage will drop to about 10 on my gauge and then 14 when I give it some gas. I replaced the battery as well as the starter syliniod and it is still doing the same darn thing. Cant figure it out.. Also I am throwing a couple codes lately as well.

Current Fault Log
------------------
P0137: O2 Sensor Circuit Low Voltage (Bank 1 Sensor 2)

Pending Fault Log
------------------
P0137: O2 Sensor Circuit Low Voltage (Bank 1 Sensor 2)

Historic Fault Log
------------------
ECU reports no historic faults
Other discovered fault codes
(possibly pending, current or manufacturer specific)
----------------------------------------------------
P0622: Generator Field "F" Terminal Control Circuit

End of report.

It is really getting annoying to be driving down the road and seeing my lights start to dim at times then spike back up for a bit then die back down...

Anyone have any ideas.





Alternator checks out to be ok.. Belt seems fine.. I changed the ground cable on my battery as well because the old one was all eaten and corrodided and stuff.. Figured that could have been my starting issues... That didnt work so when I changed the starter I figured that would be the starting issuess I was having, it started but the voltage was low.. Checked the battery and it was reading low so I bought a new one. Now the car cranks however the darn thing will cruise for a bit at 14 volts and then start dieing to about 12... If I turn on the A/C it drops lower, When I turn on the windshield wipers I can see the voltage drop everytime the wipers start to wipe.

 

What makes an alternator better than a generator is that an alternator can vary the strength of the magnetic field and the strength of the magnetic field determines the amount of current produced. Now, if there is a problem with what controls the strength of the magnetic field - there is your problem.

 

So what should I check... I am about to pull the alternator and check and see if the darn thing got dirty or what and also check the connections..

 

To me sounds like the alternator. You already checked your cables for corrosion so its not that. Ive had alternators do that, charge then drop the charge but we came to the conclusion that the voltage regulator in the alternator are giving out.

 

I had the same problem, could never figure it out untill this past month. My car would crank over fine some days then just **** out on me other days. If i would hook jumpers up to it would start instantly. It finnally got to the point where it was happening every other day, and i just couldn't deal with it anymore.

I went to my local autozone and they tested my battery and told me my amp reading was very low. I kind of figured this was the issue since the voltage was fine on my battery. So i ended up replaceing my battery.

Well everything was good for a week then the starter problem acted up again, i was like WTF....

So i began to think i had a short or something was drawling the power from my batter when my car was parked. Well i pulled out all my after market electronic **** and put each peace in one by one waiting some time in between installations.

Well when it was time to reinstall my Greddy Turbo Timer, a day later i instantly had problems with my car starting. Ever since i ripped that dumb *** turbo timer out of my car, it starts perfectly fine with no problems at all.
So check for shorts or something that has power when your car is off.

Kevin

To check your alternator, just get your car running and put a volt meter up to the battery terminals. If your car is pushing 14.0+ volts your fine

 

Thats the problem... It reads 14................Then drops to 12........back to 14 .......

 

Sounds like alternator....Here's what people don't understand, just because it says 14 volts doesn't mean it's "charging". Like they say when people accidently touch a wire, it's not the voltage (the umph) that kills you, it's the current (the flow). Alot of us has gotten shocked by an ignition coil and it was prob no less than 40,000 volts, but it's such a small current it didn't kill or hurt you like you would think 40k+ volts would. Just because it says 14 volts doesn't mean it's good, you need to have it tested and see how many amps its putting out. It can put out 14 volts and put out 10 amps which means it isn't doing **** besides enough to power a few lights. Only the older cars have amp gauges from what I've seen. I would go to advance or wherever and have them test the battery and alternator and it will tell you the CCA and amps of the alternator and more, but if it's an internal problem of the battery then it might not show up in the battery test unless it acts funny while you're there. I would try and steal a battery from another car and use it for a day or two and see if it still doesn't unless you have money to blow on a battery. If it still does it then you know it's not the battery anyway.