Sulaco
01-20-2008, 08:04 PM
Been a while since I've browsed the forum, gents.
I recently rolled over 200k in my beloved 202. I'm actually almost at 210k now.
I changed the FACTORY ORIGINAL fuel filter at 208k. It was a fun experiment seeing how long I could go and get away with it :)
Needless to say, boy what a difference it made in performance by changing that mofo. After I got the old one off the car, I poured its contents onto the ground (which were solid black liquid), and threw a match into the puddle.
It put the match out! Somehow my car was running off this for god-knows how long.
Anyways, my problem...
It's acting as if the battery has become weak, which makes sense. The battery is 6 or 7 years old with about 150k miles on it. However, the car also runs like complete shit for the first 10 or 15 miles after I get it started. I get in, the interior lights are dim, and it bearly has enough juice to turn over and eventually start. Then, when I want to accelerate above idle it sputters and almost dies. Once I get it above idle, I've floored it a few times just to see. The RPM's climb, but VERY slowly and the car seems to have lost 100hp. But, once again, after about 10 minutes and the car has warmed up, everything runs perfectly normal and great.
This morning, she was too dead to start. Jumped it off, ran perfectly fine for about a half hour (even during the first 10 minutes when it's normally weak).
Personal experience and conventional wisdom say that if the battery is bad, the car will run perfectly well once cranked. Furthermore, that if the alternator is bad, it will still have power shortages (or even failures) after it is cranked. But given the symptoms above, am I having both problems? Bad battery AND bad alternator? Or is there some kind of short somewhere causing it to drain power while sitting overnight?
I recently rolled over 200k in my beloved 202. I'm actually almost at 210k now.
I changed the FACTORY ORIGINAL fuel filter at 208k. It was a fun experiment seeing how long I could go and get away with it :)
Needless to say, boy what a difference it made in performance by changing that mofo. After I got the old one off the car, I poured its contents onto the ground (which were solid black liquid), and threw a match into the puddle.
It put the match out! Somehow my car was running off this for god-knows how long.
Anyways, my problem...
It's acting as if the battery has become weak, which makes sense. The battery is 6 or 7 years old with about 150k miles on it. However, the car also runs like complete shit for the first 10 or 15 miles after I get it started. I get in, the interior lights are dim, and it bearly has enough juice to turn over and eventually start. Then, when I want to accelerate above idle it sputters and almost dies. Once I get it above idle, I've floored it a few times just to see. The RPM's climb, but VERY slowly and the car seems to have lost 100hp. But, once again, after about 10 minutes and the car has warmed up, everything runs perfectly normal and great.
This morning, she was too dead to start. Jumped it off, ran perfectly fine for about a half hour (even during the first 10 minutes when it's normally weak).
Personal experience and conventional wisdom say that if the battery is bad, the car will run perfectly well once cranked. Furthermore, that if the alternator is bad, it will still have power shortages (or even failures) after it is cranked. But given the symptoms above, am I having both problems? Bad battery AND bad alternator? Or is there some kind of short somewhere causing it to drain power while sitting overnight?