Well as of late my '91 323 hatchbzack(base model) has had some problems holding power. I charge it for like 2 days......and it still wont roll over.

However i just installed the LX cluster(oh baby ive gotta tach!) and i wanted to check if it worked and **** so I jump started it, and it worked fine....drove it around the street, parked it after it had warmed up. Then turned it off, and turned it back on, and it evidently started. This is weird because likely tomorrow if I try to start it on its own, it will not roll. I think its draining power somewhere. How am I going to confirm it is, and better yet, fix this prob?

p.s. - tach is cool.

 

sounds like a battery or alternator prob

 

buy a $10 voltmeter at pepboys then check the voltage engine running and engineoff

 

the same thing happned to me take it to a mechanic and have them tighten your alternator belt up and it migt work it did for me

 

like i said buy a volt meter then check the voltage on the batt with the engine off. Should be atleat 11V up lower than that i believe u have to get a new one....check the batt w/ engine running should be 14V that means ur batt is being charge..

maybe its just a ground cable check that first maybe its loose.

 

i had this problem about a month ago aswell, and I had a friend comeover with the voltmeter and it was low.......it eventually charged SOMEHOW. now i just think its draining. I actually removed the radio fuse, and it has been working just great!!

 

It sounds like one of six cells is dead in the battery. I had this happen to me about 8 months ago now. With the 5 cells working you could still have a little over 11V if its used regularly. This will start it when it is fresh, but after sitting overnight the light draw of the clock and whatnot may bring it down enough that it won't start. Disconnect your battery cables and put the charger on it over night. Sometime the next day put a volt meter to it. You should have at least 12V. I did this but put a volt meter on it right after i took the charger off. I could see the voltage dropping (one tenth every minute or so) until it bottomed out at 10.8 or something. Try it out.

 

Its a new battery though. It needed a new one, so the day i got the car, i got a battery, and I dont have the car insured so it has no been used that much. I'll give that a try if I have no luck otherwise, thanks.

 

Slipping alternator belt?

Mine did this...took a long time to figure out because it would only slip at higher RPM..so when you're idling it trying to figure out the problem, there isn't one. But when you're driving, you're not charging your battery cause the belt is slipping.

 

OH. Try it anyways. Its not like everything made these days is without defects Could be a bad one from the factory... Not likely though...

 

Well the car already came with a dead battery. Perhaps it's a hint that there's something else wrong. I wouldn't discount checking the alternator belt first, then, maybe, hehe.

 

Obviously. But if the battery is dying over night, there is either a drain, or the batter is FUBAR. why not try and check the easy thing first? I don't know about you, but I like to fix something the simple way if possible.

 

well guys i appreciate all your help, but it seems I've fixed the problem. As I mentioned previously, I removed the radio fuse and now its holding the power. This issue is ongoing though, so likely within a few weeks of it sitting there(I only start it up once every 3 days..ish.) the problem may return. If so I'll look into the alternator belt, AND the fault battery. thanks again, i appreciate.

 

Well if the radio fuse stops it look for some shorts in the radio or whatever else is on the fuse, maybe, hehe.

superdave, I thought maybe tinkering with the alternator belt was cheaper than a new battery, so whichever is the lowest "cost" to you I guess is how to go, hehe

 

I wasn't saying buy a new battery.. just -test- it to see if it is good. Its free to do that