1990 celica. Challenging problem.

I have a 1990 Toyota Celica everything was running perfectly fine driving it around. One day parked it overnight and it wouldnt start the next day. Thought ok. Battery must be dead. Even though it was a brand new battery thought maybe I left a light on. Got a boost and drove it back to where i live and left it running for 2 hours. Drove it around for 10 minutes and parked it for the night. Went to start it again the next day and nothing. Thought I somehow left the light on again. Got a boost. And let it run for 2 hours.

Went back to try and drive it around and the RPM?s were going from

1200 -1400 constantly up and down. But battery seems fine when I put on the radio. As soon as I go to put it into reverse and press the brake. The battery signal comes up. Everytime i hit he breaks the battery light would come on. So I figure I had a problem with my altinator. Got a miltimeter the next day. Yet another boost and checked the battery. It read 15 amps. Should only be high 12?s low 13?s if it is just the charge from the boost... Correct?. So i believe I found it isnt my altinator. And I checked for corrosion on the battery. 0.0 amps on the negative and 0.1 on the positive. So good connections there. So I figure?d I?d let my car run for five minutes and see what happened. Everything seemed fine. Turned all the lights off and radio off in the car and left it for an hour. Went back to it an hour later. The car had shut off by its-self.

Can anyone please lend a hand on this one? Would mean a great deal.

Thank you.

Reply to
Crazzytown
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When you checked the battery, you should check voltage, not amps. It should read somewhere from 12+ volts to 14.4 volts.

When a car is idling, if the headlights, radio, heater fan, defogger, etc. are on, the alternator may not put out sufficient amperage to charge the battery.

When the car will not start, check battery voltage. If battery voltage is sufficient, then the problem may be in the battery or starter connections. Check to make sure the battery is properly grounded.

If the battery is more than 5 years old, it may have lost is ability to hold a charge and needs replacement.

Reply to
Ray O

When running fine the stock battery and alt will generally charge enough with 5 mins running to re-start within 6 or 7 hours even if from a flat battery start condition. I too would suspect the battery was the fault here but the car stopping itself would suggest the alt isnt charging the batt either or it would take up the slack? Battery is the cheapest part to start the replacements at but if you're mis- reading the meter and ts charging at 15v not Amps I'd say your alt is over-charging which has likely toasted the battery. Ive never seen more than 14.4v out of my celicas alt.

Reply to
Coyoteboy

I had a similar problem with my 1990 Toyota Corolla. My problem was that the Alternator diodes had burned (somehow)

If the alternator works you should be able to measure about 14V between the battery poles.

I discovered that a battery voltage of 10V was enough to drive the car, But not enough to start it once I turned the engine off.

//Rickard

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Reply to
kaabdalis

your getting 15 volts because of the charge should be right. It sounds to me that you may have a bad diode in your Alternator that?s not fully charging or perhaps dis charging your battery.

Try running the car again and remove the positive cable from the battery while the engine is running. If the engine shuts off its your Alternator. Try not to do this often as it may cause damage to a good Alternator..

hope that helps..

"Crazzytown" wrote: > Hey there. im brand new to the site. Never had to get help > before but im confused on this one. > > I have a 1990 Toyota Celica everything was running perfectly > fine driving it around. One day parked it overnight and it > wouldnt start the next day. Thought ok. Battery must be dead. > Even though it was a brand new battery thought maybe I left a > light on. Got a boost and drove it back to where i live and > left it running for 2 hours. Drove it around for 10 minutes > and parked it for the night. Went to start it again the next > day and nothing. Thought I somehow left the light on again. > Got a boost. And let it run for 2 hours. > > Went back to try and drive it around and the RPM's were going > from 1200 -1400 constantly up and down. But battery seems fine > when I put on the radio. As soon as I go to put it into > reverse and press the brake. The battery signal comes up. > Everytime i hit he breaks the battery light would come on. So > I figure I had a problem with my altinator. Got a miltimeter > the next day. Yet another boost and checked the battery. It > read 15 amps. Should only be high 12's low 13's if it is just > the charge from the boost... Correct?. So i believe I found it > isnt my altinator. And I checked for corrosion on the battery. > 0.0 amps on the negative and 0.1 on the positive. So good > connections there. So I figure'd I'd let my car run for five > minutes and see what happened. Everything seemed fine. Turned > all the lights off and radio off in the car and left it for an > hour. Went back to it an hour later. The car had shut off by > its-self. > > Can anyone please lend a hand on this one? Would mean a great > deal. > > > Thank you.

Reply to
CoolPR

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