Good morning guys, or is it?? No, no it is. Okay, so I need the almighty Camaro guys to assist me in determining the problem!
The symptoms:
It started last Thursday, I went to crank over my car and it died. I mean fully dead. No dash lights, no chimes, no power at all. I turned the key back, and the same problem occurred. Cranked once, full speed, then fully died. Again, no power at all whatsoever anywhere. Dead dash, dead lights, dead radio, almost as if I had taken the battery out. After awhile the car started fine, except for the fact that it had an unusually long crank, which I assume is the PCM/ECM relearning. However, many strange symptoms have persisted. My radio now has a gnarly whine. The further the gas pedal is, the higher the whine. It's stalled a few times on me, and is running somewhat rough. No check engine light though. My radio also dies, as if it's losing power. I also became aware of a new noise. Normally, I can hear the air intake as I accelorate, now I hear a really high pitched whine accompanyied with the normal noise. Any ideas?

Symptoms:
Stalling
Radio Interference
Oil light came on then off almost immediately
Rough Idle.
Lack of power
Weird Intake noise
Dies during crankingno power
Long Crank when back online
Horn Sounds weak

My car is a 2002, V6, A4.
Keep in mind, I am a tech (2 years expierince) but I haven't the slightest Idead where to start with this. I am now doing Engineering, and don't have to much time to invest in my car, sadly.
I would appreciate any help guys! Thanks in advance!

 

Check your alternator. Output at the alt. should be in the 14v range. It could be on it's way out, and barely able to keep up with demand. To see if it's causing the whine, pop off the serpentine belt and restart the engine. If the whine is gone, the alternator is the cause.

 

Most likely its going to be the security system/ignition switch. It could be a ground.

 

The car is cranking more than fast enough. It cranks once, fast, then dies. Again, totally dead. Turning the key back then trying to start the car again, it's fully dead. This time, there is no crank. Howver, if I let it set for like 2 mins, it will crank and start fine. I've also noticed that gauges flip out occasionaly when I turn the car off, acting like corvette gauges when a corvette is first started. However, the security light has been on for about 2 months now.

 

Sounds like the ignition switch is over heating. For a tech 2 minutes of no power is plenty of time to track the problem down with a test light.Sounds like you are droping power to the key on side of the fuse box. That power comes from the ignition switch. Whenthe car is not starting check to see if power is coming from the ignition switch and check to see if power is going to the ignition switch. It also sounds like you could have more then one thing wrong. It is possible the the ignition switch is sending voltage spikes as it overheats. If that is the case any electronic control could be damages, on a 2002 that would be,,,, everything?

If you don not have power to the ignition switch then you will need to back track your power supply for basicconnection issues. If you have power everywhereits still dead you can put the test light on the small wire that leads to the started to see if you got power there. If you do, its the starter but I would guess that if you have power to the fuse box and no crank its you 2 month old security issue going completly south on you.

BTW what type of engineering are you doing?

 

mine starts all the time, but sometimes the windows or radio won't work. i've found that for mine, if i hold the window button down and then start the car with it held down, all of my interior crap works fine.

but you said your security light is on? i had my key lock cylinder (i think that's what it's called, it's the whole thing where you put your key in) replaced over that, the way gm manufactured them would wear the wires out quickly.

 

I'm doing mechanical engineering, good times. Car hasn't acted up lately though, so I suppose that's a good thing.

 

If I was you I would keep the lower cover off so you can access the ignition switch and keep a test light handy incase it happeneds again. You might want to poke around with the test light while everything is working so you can see what it should look like.

I work with a bunch of Mechanical Engineers. I am a Manufacturing Engineer and right now I am assigned to Design engineering in a attemp to make the new designs more manufacturable and to help the engineers which features are driving the cost. What cad system you using?

 

No CAD system yet. I've only taken Engineering 101 thus far, I'm focusing on my math and physics before I move on to my engineering classes. I'd like to hold off on engineering classes until I transfer to my four year university. I know that once I get into the statics and circuits there is a heavy emphasis on MATLAB. What school did you go to?

On the other side, I'm putting 14.2 volts at the battery.

 

sounds like a alt or a serious bad ground