I recently traded a friend my 1990 Ford Ranger for his 97 Eclipse GS-T with a 16g turbo. I have been driving it for a couple weeks now. The problem I am having with this car is that it will die slightly after driving it for a little while around the time frame of 2 hours tops. What happens is the car loses all electrical power and the car shuts off, battery is completely dead. To help me evaluate the problem first thing the alternator is brand new connected correctly and all hooked up good to go, battery is brand new not even a a week old. The 4-White wires coming from the + battery terminal were smoked/fried slightly at the battery terminal end those are replaced, problem still exists. I was driving home from work today with it got about 3 miles from my house work is only 8 miles away tops. I was on the highway and the head lights started to dim and all the console lights started to become dimmer. i knew it was going to die again so i coasted on an off ramp near my house and let it sit at a gas station. I'm going to jump around a little here... things/symptoms I'm having with this problem, I start the car up lets say at night...i have the headlights on the brightness flutters at the same time the console lights flutter also. The Battery light and Brake light near the stock boost gauge near the speedometer are half lit up flaking out fluttering brightness also. I wait about 5 minutes then it seems to be all good like nothing is wrong i get to driving and about 5 minutes later at a red light or a stop in general the RPM will go from 1k at idle to 2k/2.5k and then drop back to 1k(Acting like some of the half ass Honda's around my area, lol). With that explained somewhat one thing i have noticed is that right before the damn thing dies the Anti Theft light comes on next to the Stock Tachometer in the dash. Then all of the sudden all power is lost and car runs poorly wont go over 4k RPM and gets worse then eventually shuts off like all power is lost and batter is dead. After this happens i shut the car off then try to start it back up nothing same symptoms of a dead batter but the starter will not even tick. This is confusing me and I don't wanna go spend $$ if this is some 1 hour hack job i can do myself to override something.

I am new to all this tuner stuff I got this car to learn a little more about it all, so I am open for any suggestions to look into.. :57:

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/boxmod26/suprasigsmall.jpg)

since you mentioned that wires were fried near the battery i would go through every fuse and relay to look for further electrical burns. I would also pull out the ECU and then open it up to check for any kid of overheating inside. it almost seems like once the ECU starts to heat up from use it craps on itself.

Alright I'll check that out see what I can find.

Ok, I got the car to autozone had them scan the car with the OBD II and it came back with a Vehicle Speed Sensor problem which the guy told me that would be why my RPM will rise and fall like it does. Also there was a P1500 code that popped up, He told me it was a manufacture specific code and couldn't help me with it so I just searched it up and i got 2 answers somewhat similar to eachother

1st result: Generator FR Terminal Circuit Malfunction
2nd search result: Alternator FR Terminal Circuit Malfunction

now im not sure what to do for either problem, anyone able to help?

that attachment didn't post correctly

the speed sensor could cause your idle problem. The alternator code is probably a burnt wire from the alternator to the battery

just looked at all the wiring, none seem to be fried...hmm..I hate electrical lol

use a ohmeter and check the continuity of the wires

checked the continuity of the wires there is no short from the battery to the alternator. Checked the voltage of the battery with the car running and it fluctuates anywhere from 14.37-16.00 without the lights on, when i turn the lights on it drops to low 14's. I was driving the car today with the lights off during the day and drove around for a while parked at a friends on my way home i drove with the lights on to see if it was fixed after we checked all the bolts and re-tensioned the alternator (while checking the wires from the alternator we found that the bottom bolt on the alternator wasn't even hand tight and was a lot of slack in the belt for the alternator). I got about 5 miles and all power was lost car was sputtering over 4,000 RPM which I am assuming happens from lack of spark or the battery does not have enough "juice" because this only happens when the battery is failing. I'm very confused on what could be wrong with this car... I never had so many problems with a vehicle other than this one....I enjoy it a lot even though its running poorly, I just want to get it running right before I start doing motor work. One other thing when the battery gets low i can hear a TICK sound coming from behind the stereo slightly before the car dies when it loses all power. Is this normal? That's the ECU/PCM or w/e making that noise correct?

16 volts is a little high. it should be between 13 and 15 volts at any given time with the engine running. The haynes manual says to have your pcm checked out.

My question is it a GS that has been turboed or is it a GST? if it is a GST then the clicking noise you are hearing is probably the PCM.

It is a 97 GST with a generic 16g Turbo its bone stock other than that and rims.

on the alternator where the little red boot is and the wire for the battery connects, check to make sure that stud isn't loose. i know a guy who had similar charging problems and couldn't figure it out until the stud vibrated itself completelt out. (personally I think he damaged it somehow but you never know)

ok ill check that in the morning, I am pretty sure it is not the stud we went through the the wires but we did not check the stud itself so there is still that possibility. Another weird thing about all this is the lights flutter for a while then once you get driving around for a little bit they stay normal but the battery just dies and loses charge. Battery is brand new. Alternator was a Re-Manned Alternator that was giving to the person who had this car before me off of a crashed eclipse gst at a junk/salvage yard where another friend worked since the previous alternator was supposably bad.

did you test the alternator yet? if not take it to advance auto or auto zone, they will bench test it for free

Yeah I've bought brand new bad alternators and batteries before.

did you check to make sure all the wires were grounded in the right spot and there isn't a short or somthing draining your batt?