Hey guys. Need some help. My car recently has been randomly losing electricity. Just for a fraction of a second. No memory loss of anykind. All electrical systems die at once. Car keeps running. Any ideas? It's a '93 GS300. Thanks.

minh

 

Start by cleaning and tightening your battery terminals and checking the plug and wiring to the alternator, if it persists, have the charging system load tested.

 

In order for that to happen the battery and the alternator would have to fail, "open" simultaneously, it is much more likely something is shorting the complete system out intermittently.

I would get it into the shop immediately, this is how car fires start!

 

It's funny you bring that up cuz the same thing happened to me before too. And the scary thing was that i was driving at nite! I was driving and the next thing you know my head lights and interior lights just cut out but the car was still running! I'm sure you've already done this but you should check your battery connection cuz the prob i had was that there was some corrosion around the battery terminals. Also bring your battery to autozone (my favorite place in the world) and tell them to put it on the tester. If that's not it then you should check your altenator. I've had to replace mine and it costed around $250. Me and my old man put it in ourselves. A little work but better than bringing it to the dealership and gettin rapped.

 

minh, are you losing power when you hit the brakes (or roll down-up window, etc) or is it totally random?

 

Completely random. The only thing I've noticed so far is that it's at low speed or at a stop....I think.

 

try the Battery & connections for starters...

I had the same problem. (It was a loose bolt around the positive terminal.) It'll get worse, and your car will eventually cut out if the connection gets loose enough. use a wire brush, and scrub away the corrosion and gunk around the positive and negative terminals of your battery, then tighten up the connections real good.

Cherio

 

I had similar problem. once it happened while I was driving, everythign shut down for like 2 sec. I cleaned and tightened the battery terminals and ever since, I haven't had any problem.

 

I had that problem but only my temp controls and radio went out, light were still on. It was a fuse that was loose under the dash and occasionaly would lose its connection then regain it. I would check all fuses to make sure they are in tight.

 

This was batted around quite a bit in a post I started last year:

Ghosts in the electrical system. Ghosts

as well as a couple of others.

The battery and alternator helped alot in my case.

 

I had the same problem with my car. The headlights and the dashlghts would dim whenever the brake was pressed or whenever I signaled to make a turn. Eventually my car began to just turn off while driving. I cleaned my battery terminals and haven't had the problem since.

 

Thanks for the help guys, I'll give the battery terminals a good cleaning and I'll check the fuse. Hopefully it's not something too serious.

minh

 

UPDATE: Cleaned the battery clamps and terminals. So far so good.

 

when you change the battery terminals, is there any brand you recommend?

or just get new one from autozone/pepboys?