Hi all. I just joined here because I am at my wits end with my daughter's car. We purchased this car used in November for our 18 year old daughter. All in all it seems to be a sound car with a good engine and transmission, but we've been having issues with the battery going dead along with other strange electrical issues.
Let me preface this with "I KNOW LITTLE TO NOTHING ABOUT CARS" so excuse my lack of proper terminology!
Minor inconveniences include the radio not turning off when you turn off the car, the wipers do the same occasionally Some days the radio display stays on. The electric locks only lock the doors when all the doors are closed, so we have to lock them, then manually unlock the door and open them then manually lock them again.
Annoying problem - often times when you turn the ignition off it wont turn completely back to the normal position. Many times we have to re-start the car then wait a few minutes before it will work properly. Sometimes a good jiggle fixes it.
Major issue - dead battery! We have replaced the battery twice and had the alternator checked at the auto part store. They said it was fine. After the last battery replacement everything seemed fine for over a month. I began to think the problem stemmed from the seat heater which she used quite often during the cold months and now that its spring it was fine since it was not being used.
Last week we got a torrential downpour which flooded our street and her car was parked in our driveway at a small slant so the rear end got water up to the bottoms of the rear doors. A small amount of water was in the back floorboard on the passenger side. The next morning the battery was completely dead. No interior lights, I wouldn't even attempt to turn over. We jumped it and all was fine for a week.
This past Saturday I borrowed her car for some errands and I made two stops with no starting issues. I returned home went in to the house for 5 minutes so she could join me for a few more errands and when I went back to the car it was completely dead again.
Yesterday we jumped it and let it idle for 15-20 minutes and turned it off attempted to re-start and still completely dead.
Someone told us to pull the red cable off the battery when it is running and if it stays on the alternator is good. We did this yesterday and it stayed running.
I really don't want to replace the alternator which "everyone" says is our problem because the part is like $150 if that isn't actually the problem!
I'm hoping/praying one of you Grand Prix gurus will have my answer!
Originally Posted by GTX
