Car Stalls Under Electrical Load

[levizzle]

Been looking through the forums for an answer and couldnt find anything.

My R32 has been stalling when I have more than one thing turned on e.g. stereo (which is always on) plus a/c, or head lights or brake lights. This problem was bad last night as I had to have the lights on and it was warm so I had the air blowing. When i pulled up at the traffic lights and my brake lights come on, my headlights dim and it would stall when i stop. Then later sitting in the macdonalds drive thru, it just stalled while it was idling, like without warning just dropped.

Does anyone have an idea of where to start? I was thinking of cleaning AAC valve (which I am not looking forward to, apparently its hard to get to) or maybe clean coilpacks and check for cracks or get battery tested, so...discuss :-)

[blind_elk]

The AAC is relatively easy to get to.

Electrical load problems are generally related to the alternator. First step is to check that the tension on the alternator / fan belt is correct (tight enough).

[mad082]

as blind_elk said, check your alternator. i wouldn't be suprised if it is on it's way out. i used to have a ford festiva 1.3L back in the day and when i had 2 10" subs hooked up and turned right up i could make the car stall at idle. if i turned the sound up slowly it would develope a lumpy idle with each bat until it got to a volume where it would stall. was rather amusing.

[levizzle]

Ok, well i just finished cleaning the aac valve, was way easier than some had implied but then again the tutorial was for a R33 and the R32 is way easier. Havent had a chance to properly test it by driving around with everything on, but hopefully this fixes it cause it has for some others. If not I will have to check the alternator. How would i go about doing this, i dont really know much about that part, should i take it to an auto electrician to test voltage or something like that?

[levizzle]

Well cleaning the aac valve has seemed to have helped. I drove around today with everything on (lights, a/c on fast, stereo loud) and also tried stopping quickly at the lights and it didnt even look like stalling. So it has passed for now, but will need more testing to confirm hopefully thats all it was :-)

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Start your car up, and put a multimeter between your terminal and see what the voltage is.

A good alternater will show a voltage between 13.8~14.4 volts

[Carbon 34]

I'd bet AAC but if your voltage dips the computer will malfunction, so will the coils

if your car has a bunch of amps in the boot, shut off the radio and try it again, you might be pulling too much current from everything else. or have a bad ground to the engine block. dirty terminals or loose ?

my old VT commy used to die from voltage sag = computer malfunction when the bass hit/ lights on,, and that was only 1 cheapo amp

till it smoked the alternator ..lol oh well

put your car on a meter with a no load of items on, what voltage at idle ? should be about 13.8 at first then settle to about 12.5-13v most wont hit 14.4 unless battery is nearly dead or regulator going bad

now load it up , lights, stereo, fan, what does it say now ? if its anything below 12.5v you might have issues