Car keeps stalling lately

[mfergel]

So, back story. Storm comes through the east coast here. Everything had been fine with the car. We've had colder days here than what we experienced last week. I take the car out after the storm and notice it's starting weird. Quick initial clicks. The type that indicate there is something wrong with the battery. Does that a after a few starts and then after about the fourth start it's nothing but clicks. I jump start it and it starts right up. Put the battery on a trickle charger overnight. Shows completely charged in the morning and starts right up. I pull into a parking spot at work and the car stalls just as I pull into the spot. Start it up after work and it stalls immediately. Had to let it sit for about a minute before I could get it to start back up. I notice the idle seems to be running a lot lower than normal so at this point I'm kind of keeping the rpm's up so it doesn't stall. Head to autozone for a battery test and it comes up bad. Replace the battery there and drive home..........and it stalls pulling into the driveway.

At this point, I run back into the house, grab my handheld tuner, check to see if it's thrown any codes at all. Nothing. I reload my tune just in case the battery issue messed something up. Still having the same issue though. It wants to stall and it seems like rpm's are running lower. I added fresh gas to make sure it wasn't somehow fuel related. It had been running great up until the storm, even on colder days. I'm at a loss as to what would have changed or what could be causing this.

 

[gray1622]

alternator

 

[mfergel]

alternator

That was my thought as well. I have an aftermarket PA Performance Alternator in there that I installed a few years ago. Previously, and from others experiences with alternator problems, when the alternator goes bad it throws a cam sensor failure code. Maybe I'm just not seeing a code this time?

 

[07 Boss]

That was my thought as well. I have an aftermarket PA Performance Alternator in there that I installed a few years ago. Previously, and from others experiences with alternator problems, when the alternator goes bad it throws a cam sensor failure code. Maybe I'm just not seeing a code this time?

I'm on my 5th alternator and I never have thrown the cam sensor code.

 

[mfergel]

I'm on my 5th alternator and I never have thrown the cam sensor code.

Hmmm. Guess I'll get an alternator test just to make sure then. Last time mine went bad I got the cam sensor code.

 

[JeremyH]

I never got the code either when my alternator went out and it was intermittent. Would stop charging off and on which made it a pain to pinpoint at first.

 

[bujeezus]

No code when my alternator died either. The car just died after the headlights quit working! Thankfully, I was just pulling up in front of my place.

 

[Pentalab]

You can read the battery voltage off the OBD port. You can also use a digital voltmeter....and put it across the battery or put it on the 12 vdc accessory jack.

With eng running, it should be 14.4 vdc. 14.4 vdc is what the alternator should be putting out. With eng off, wait a bit, and normal battery voltage is aprx 12.25 vdc.

If your battery voltage is way low, and you have to jump start it, once the eng starts, you should see 14.4 vdc with eng running. If you don't, or it's fluctuating all over the map, the alternator is bad. If the alternator is toast, replace it with a 2010 alternator.

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

Yeah, sounds like it's the alternator at fault and if you have a 6-gauge instrument cluster, the voltmeter would read abnormally low while the engine's running. Checking the voltage across the battery while the engine's running would confirm that.
As for getting a cam sensor code, that usually only happens if the culprit is a bad alternator diode. A faulty voltage regulator will just allow the battery to run down without throwing any codes. Luckily the regulator can be replaced so you wouldn't need to replace the whole alternator.

 

[mfergel]

OK. Thanks guys. I'll double check that on the alternator. Part of me will be pissed if it is. Those PA Performance alternators were supposed to be so awesome.

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

Those PA Performance alternators were supposed to be so awesome.

Unfortunately that's not what I've heard.

 

[07 Boss]

OK. Thanks guys. I'll double check that on the alternator. Part of me will be pissed if it is. Those PA Performance alternators were supposed to be so awesome.

Did you swap the pulley on it?

 

[mfergel]

Did you swap the pulley on it?

New pulley put in last summer.

So, more to add........

On the way home from work, twice when I revved the engine the radio cut off/on. Stopped at autozone for an alternator test. Charging at around 15.5. Is it maybe overcharging? Isn't 14.8-ish around recommended for topping out? Seems odd though that my symptoms would be the result of overcharging though.

 

[07 Boss]

New pulley put in last summer.

So, more to add........

On the way home from work, twice when I revved the engine the radio cut off/on. Stopped at autozone for an alternator test. Charging at around 15.5. Is it maybe overcharging? Isn't 14.8-ish around recommended for topping out? Seems odd though that my symptoms would be the result of overcharging though.

15.5 is high, especially at idle. I don't think your symptoms are from overcharging, but the overcharging is indicative of something being wrong with it. Or the ECM as it controls voltage regulation. Did you pick up a new alternator while you were at Autozone?

 

[Pentalab]

15.5 vdc is way too high. My oem 2010 alternator is 14.4 vdc.....whether at idle or say 4k rpm. Those who have had issues with the PA performance alternator's would have varying voltages. They would either vary with rpm... or vary while at idle, or vary cruising on the hwy ..at a constant 2100 rpm etc. You need to have a DVM across the 12 vdc accessory jack.... or even look at the voltmeter on the dash, it should not budge.

 

[mfergel]

15.5 is high, especially at idle. I don't think your symptoms are from overcharging, but the overcharging is indicative of something being wrong with it. Or the ECM as it controls voltage regulation. Did you pick up a new alternator while you were at Autozone?

No. Didn't pick up a new one since the PA Performance has a lifetime warranty, so I would just (I believe) pay for a new one, send the old one back and then be refunded.

15.5 vdc is way too high. My oem 2010 alternator is 14.4 vdc.....whether at idle or say 4k rpm. Those who have had issues with the PA performance alternator's would have varying voltages. They would either vary with rpm... or vary while at idle, or vary cruising on the hwy ..at a constant 2100 rpm etc. You need to have a DVM across the 12 vdc accessory jack.... or even look at the voltmeter on the dash, it should not budge.

They (PA Performance) contacted me back just saying what 07 Boss did, which is that the ECM controls voltage and that I should check for loose connections (which I've done) so I'll most likely have to send it back. I'm 'concerned' though by their following statement of "we can get the alternator back here for an evaluation", which to me says "we will bill you for a new one and when we get your current one we will say everything is fine with it so we will refund your core only".

 

[bujeezus]

So why would you put another PA alt on just to have to deal with this shit again down the road? Just because of the warranty? A turd with a warranty is still a turd.

 

[LordBritish]

Let me tell you about PA Performance Alternators.

They break on a regular basis. They would last about a year for me.

So I had 2 identical PA Performance alternators.

When it self destructed, I swapped it with the other one and sent back the broken one to be fixed/replaced. About a year later, the process repeats.

I must say their alternators just suck. They must use crap parts or have shitty quality control.

I don't normally say bad things about a product or company but I feel compelled to here.

 

[Johnf78]

So why would you put another PA alt on just to have to deal with this shit again down the road? Just because of the warranty? A turd with a warranty is still a turd.

 

[mfergel]

So why would you put another PA alt on just to have to deal with this shit again down the road? Just because of the warranty? A turd with a warranty is still a turd.

Well, right now I'd say it's because I paid $250 for the it. It kind of sucks because I researched online about how the factory alternators are shit (rebuilts as well) because of the damn diode. I did see issues with the PA alternator as well and actually had to send the first one back because (and this was a big complaint) the damn shaft was bent because they (in this case I ordered from AM) ship it in the worst damn box in the world.

Let me tell you about PA Performance Alternators.

They break on a regular basis. They would last about a year for me.

So I had 2 identical PA Performance alternators.

When it self destructed, I swapped it with the other one and sent back the broken one to be fixed/replaced. About a year later, the process repeats.

I must say their alternators just suck. They must use crap parts or have shitty quality control.

I don't normally say bad things about a product or company but I feel compelled to here.

I wish we had better alternatives. I went through a rebuilt from autozone before I bought the PA.