Car randomly shuts off

The thing is, though, I can't really go out and just buy a new alternator and battery. I'm only 17, and as of right now, I have all of $20 to my name, so I'm kind of relying on warrantied parts.

XLRVIII: I'd never let a shop do a job I was confident in, either. Mechanics aren't really my forte, though. I can change my oil, change my air filter, and change a battery-- that's about it.

I guess I'll just live with a busted car for a few weeks until I can afford an alternator, and just install it myself. Thanks, guys.
 
I don't understand the outcome of this situation....

Did you pay a shop for parts and LABOR to replace the last alternator?

Because if you did and it is broken, they ARE reponsible for both if they provided you with a written warranty...

That said if they warranty the parts only you can change the alternator in less than 30 min, it is no harder than changing your own oil.

But you will still be left with a questionable alternator in the end...
 
if you can change your battery you can change your alternator. Get the new one under warranty, do a thread search, and swap it out. it is easier than changing the oil.
 
Well, I had the alternator and battery tested today, and they're both 100% okay. Would it be possible that an ignition coil could be causing this?

OR! I know that my air ride system has a slow leak in it, because if my car's been sitting overnight, the front end will be completely on the ground. Tonight, my car kept cutting off and restarting itself (just a quick blip in the system, I didn't have to turn it back on), and I noticed that when it turned back on, the display would flash up, for a split second "check air ride system." Could that have anything to do with it?
 
Patrick said:
Well, I had the alternator and battery tested today, and they're both 100% okay. Would it be possible that an ignition coil could be causing this?

OR! I know that my air ride system has a slow leak in it, because if my car's been sitting overnight, the front end will be completely on the ground. Tonight, my car kept cutting off and restarting itself (just a quick blip in the system, I didn't have to turn it back on), and I noticed that when it turned back on, the display would flash up, for a split second "check air ride system." Could that have anything to do with it?
Click to expand...


When I am moving my car thru the staging lanes at the dragstrip, I will sometimes turn my car off and have to turn it back on quickly.
Sometimes when I turn the key to off, then right back to ON.. the "check air ride" message will come up.

You issue isn't related to an air ride problem, but the air ride message is a product OF your issue.

that error occurs when you kill power to the air ride system while the system is in it's "start up process" of verifying sensors, ride height etc.

I would still say you have an electrical gremlin...loose connection, bad ground, or a goofy connection at the fuse breaker panel under the hood.

Who determined your battery and alt were still good?
It wasn't the mechanic who would have to "eat an alternator" if it were bad was it?.. or a guy that would have to replace it under warranty?

Might need a second opinion before you go tearing your wiring harness apart.
 
The alternator and battery were both determined to still be good by the same guy who put the alternator in. Seeing as how the alternator isn't warrantied by him, but rather by the manufacturer, would he still have to eat the cost of it?
 
Oh, I did. Last Friday, when I brought it back to him, I told him that it didn't fix the problem, but he was kind of busy right then, so he only tested the battery and alternator to make sure that they were both still good. I took my car back in today and am leaving it for a few days so he can have all the time he wants/needs in order to diagnose it.
 
Just wanted to give one (hopefully final) update on this whole fiasco. I left my car with him last Monday (8 days ago) and he kept it for about two days to look at it. He checked every cable leading to and from the battery, from the main relay, everything. The only thing that he noticed was that there was some oxidation on the cable leading off of the main relay that might've been just enough to cause the infrequent shut-offs. So, he sanded the oxidation off, re-connected the cable to the main relay and called me to let me know that the car was ready. When I showed up, he gave me the keys, didn't charge me for the ~5 hours of diagnostics and told me that if I had any more problems to go ahead and give him another call.

I am not going to say anything positive or negative about the outcome because I don't want to jinx anything, but I will say that I don't thing I'll be needing to call him back. =)
 
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