chrisking0997
New member
this has me stumped. Bear with me, not much of a car guy.
Car is a 2001 Sunfire, has been running relatively well for some time now. Last night, went to the car and started just fine. Turned on headlights, pressed brake and attempted to put in reverse...shift button would not depress and the Check Gauges, Auto Theft and Service lights all lit up. after pressing the shift button 3 or 4 times it finally let me put it in gear. Was only a few miles from home so drove it home but along the way the temperature and fuel gauges dropped to zero. This morning I checked all fuses and turned on car...no issues, no warning lights. I dont like problems that magically disappear so I played with it some more and was able to recreate the problem when I realized that I was not turning on the headlights. Once I did that was able to recreate. To further troubleshoot I drove to autozone, during which the problem happened at a stop without the lights on but the AC was on, and had them test the battery, which they found to be bad (42cca, battery was rated at 600 and less that 6mos old). So took it to walmart and had them replace the battery...but when I got the car back I turned on car and headlights and immediately the warning lights came on. While driving home at night and using the brakes the Brake and ABS warning lights came on as well. Stopped at same autozone and had them test again. Battery is ok and alternator is putting out 14v.
So, I assume there is a short somewhere? The problem is that, other than the dashboard lights that have not been working for months, there is nothing that is not working. Headlights are fine, brake lights are fine, AC works, radio works...it just seems like somehow I am generating a large load that is tripping these warnings but not large enough to blow a fuse or component. And I cant tell if the battery failure was a cause or a symptom as this came on suddenly. Any thoughts or suggestions I should try to isolate/troubleshoot/fix this?
thanks
Car is a 2001 Sunfire, has been running relatively well for some time now. Last night, went to the car and started just fine. Turned on headlights, pressed brake and attempted to put in reverse...shift button would not depress and the Check Gauges, Auto Theft and Service lights all lit up. after pressing the shift button 3 or 4 times it finally let me put it in gear. Was only a few miles from home so drove it home but along the way the temperature and fuel gauges dropped to zero. This morning I checked all fuses and turned on car...no issues, no warning lights. I dont like problems that magically disappear so I played with it some more and was able to recreate the problem when I realized that I was not turning on the headlights. Once I did that was able to recreate. To further troubleshoot I drove to autozone, during which the problem happened at a stop without the lights on but the AC was on, and had them test the battery, which they found to be bad (42cca, battery was rated at 600 and less that 6mos old). So took it to walmart and had them replace the battery...but when I got the car back I turned on car and headlights and immediately the warning lights came on. While driving home at night and using the brakes the Brake and ABS warning lights came on as well. Stopped at same autozone and had them test again. Battery is ok and alternator is putting out 14v.
So, I assume there is a short somewhere? The problem is that, other than the dashboard lights that have not been working for months, there is nothing that is not working. Headlights are fine, brake lights are fine, AC works, radio works...it just seems like somehow I am generating a large load that is tripping these warnings but not large enough to blow a fuse or component. And I cant tell if the battery failure was a cause or a symptom as this came on suddenly. Any thoughts or suggestions I should try to isolate/troubleshoot/fix this?
thanks
