Anti lock light

[Sulusi Eteru]

Hey guys, on the way home on the freeway from work last night the radio cut out and it seemed like I had lost power somewhere. ANTI LOCK light came on, car was still running, radio and stuff was off, lights barely on in instrument cluster, headlights really dim, heater still working but just barely, engine ran really rough too but still managed to get it home. Just started it now, seemed ok but then went back to idling rough (5-7 min idle) ANTI LOCK light back on. Stupidly turned the car off for a couple seconds and now the battery is flat. WTH!??

I checked another anti lock thread that suggested abs problems and stuff but couldn't find anything that related it back to a rough idle. Any thoughts guys before I throw this car in the rubbish?

 

[VIN18M]

Had a mechanic that forgot to disconnect my battery while leaving the car sitting (small odyssey) and killed my battery. Managed to jump start it and drive it home, but the symptoms I experienced were exactly as you describe minus the ANTI LOCK light - not sure I even have one of those.

Idle and acceleration will be affected by a dead battery, as well as stalling. I'd try swapping the battery out first.

 

[Sulusi Eteru]

Had a mechanic that forgot to disconnect my battery while leaving the car sitting (small odyssey) and killed my battery. Managed to jump start it and drive it home, but the symptoms I experienced were exactly as you describe minus the ANTI LOCK light - not sure I even have one of those.

Idle and acceleration will be affected by a dead battery, as well as stalling. I'd try swapping the battery out first.

I managed to extend my car battery charger out to the road to give the battery some juice and managed to get it started so it's in the garage getting juiced up. The idle is still pretty rough so the problem seems to be still there. Racking my brain as to some possible reasons for whats happening and googled around to find that I should do just that VIN18M. Start with a new battery. The battery indicator was red so it's obviously drained but its just puzzling whats drained it, without stating the obvious. I'll start there anyway and go from there.

 

[VIN18M]

You'll need to give it plenty of charge or it will keep doing the same thing, especially if the battery is completely dead/close to dead.

I never realised that a flat battery can affect how the car actually drives, always thought that it only affected starting the car and once it was started it'd keep running as long as you don't switch it off.

Mine was so bad that the more I accelerated the worse it ran, like it had a big misfire, obviously it didn't have enough juice to provide spark to the cylinders

 

[Sulusi Eteru]

Far out, thats exactly what I noticed as I was leaving work last night. Went for the mandatory boost off the mark to merge on the motorway and it misfired hard like it was nobody's business! Loss of boost in every way possible and thought to myself, oh here we go again? Geez! And then later thats when the electrics started to fail. Getting the battery when the Mrs gets home from work and hopefully that'll be that.

 

[Ian91]

Could be altinator

 

[Ian91]

Or more specifically the regulator, did the battery light come on too?

 

[unhuman]

Need a multimeter to test the battery with the car running and while its off.

Just guessing otherwise.

 

[Sulusi Eteru]

Update: New battery in and started/runs all good. Went for the madatory 3rd gear pull and lost boost just like it did last night before the electrics failed. I dare say the electrical problems sorted but how this loss of boost came about is beyond me. Im that much over this car that I will probably diagnose and fix the problem next time I need a new battery lol

 

[Sulusi Eteru]

Or more specifically the regulator, did the battery light come on too?

Nope, battery light didn't come on at all. Just the ANTI LOCK light.

UPDATE: I need a new alternator. I noticed on my drive along that the lights on the dash were dimming, windows were sluggish on the up and down and the high beam was slow and dim. All pointing to the alternator not doing its job. Managed to park the car in the garage and the indicator on my brand new battery just installed an hour ago shows no green at all. No red, which is some consolation but no green which tells me the drive along I had was purely on the charge within the battery and sucked it dry. Going to let it charge overnight but will sort out the alternator tomorrow. If this doesn't solve the problem then if you see reports on the news tomorrow about the Hulk running rampage through Melbourne streets then you know who it is.

 

[CLuTZ]

I might have a spare here if you need it. Send me a PM

 

[Sulusi Eteru]

Managed to get the alternator out after heaps of f@*#ing around coz I didnt know how to loosen the tension properly to get the belt off. So I just ended up cutting the belt and getting a new one once I find an alternator. How do you adjust the tension so I can reinstall it?

 

[Ian91]

I think you loosen the bolt on the front of the adjuster then turn the long bolt anti clockwise and you can push the altinator towards the block if that makes sense

 

[evo-gsr]

If you loosen the bolt on the side of the tensioner it will move freely without having to touch the long bolt.

 

[Sulusi Eteru]

So loosen that side bolt and push the alternator as far out as possible, stretching the belt out and then tighten?

 

[Sulusi Eteru]

UPDATE: I won't bore you all with the stupid details but I managed to get it all done. I suppose thats what happens when its your daily driver. Cant take your time with it, has to be smash and grab jobs every time no matter how big or small the job is. Cheers to everyone for your input. Every single one of your comments had something to do with the job in one small way or another. It literally took me the whole day to get it done...but thats coz Im a novice at this stuff. Would've taken longer if there was no advice from you guys.

 

[evo-gsr]

So loosen that side bolt and push the alternator as far out as possible, stretching the belt out and then tighten?

Yes.

 

[Sulusi Eteru]

Yes.

Thank you