Hey all I'm new to the forums. I purchased a 94 Z28 with the 6 speed manual about a month ago from a dealership. It had some issues and needed a tune up but I didn't pay much. Engine and transmission seemed strong and oil pressure looked good.

A buddy and I were installing a new sound system in the car and we got about halfway done. When I left his house I noticed my dash lights were out and I checked the fuses and one was bad. I replaced it and that fixed that issue.

So the next day I drove the car across town and then I put it in the garage to work on the subwoofer. I left the car on the accessory mode and was playing with the sub for about an hour. At this point I noticed the cd player/subwoofer power flicker on and off a few times. So I get in to the start it up and the car just makes a clicking sound. The battery was low so we jumped it and the car would try to turn over but just wouldn't light up. I ended up putting a battery charger on it over night. So the next day I get in and try starting it up - it takes a few tries but the engine turns over and it looks like I'm good to go. Then as I'm letting it idle the car seems to lose power again and the engine acts like it wants to shut off a few times. Finally it just totally cuts off. it does the same thing as the previous day - the engine acts like it wants to turn over but the battery is very low and the car just wont come to life. At this point I had interior lights and the dash was lit up so the battery was not completely dead. I put the battery charger back on and it was definitely low. I might have imagined it but it seemed like when I turned my headlights on that the battery needle took a small dip each time I cycled them on and off.

Any ideas on what this could be?

Thanks in advance.

 

I would seem that whatever was done is now draining the battery, or has damaged the alternator.

 

Yeah - I'm not sure how to proceed or where I should take it to get it looked at.

 

sounds like your alternator is going bad, wich is very easy to replace, either that or the battery is crappin out, if you are installing a system make sure you use the optima red top battery, it will save the life of your alternator, and last for years.

one thing that most people dont do is actually check the ohms with an ohmmeter and just guess that the sound system is hooked up right, make sure you check everything with a ohm meter, besides any good sound system installer will tell you doing anything otherwise is just ignorant. besides if you hook something up wrong you may destroy other parts of the electrical in the car.

 

Thank you for the replies.

My buddy that helped me install the system has an ohm/voltage meter, but what I'm wondering is how to properly check the ohms? All I have in the car is some 2 way infinity 6.5's in the front doors and infinity 6x9's in the rear hooked up to a kenwood head unit. Then I have an infinity basslink sub which is 200 watts rms. Obviously this isin't a high watt system. The guy who had the car before me wired everything really weird because he had some POS EQ installed so we had to kind of frankenstein some stuff in the car.

I think maybe you're right about the alternator and battery - maybe they just couldn't take the new sub and whatnot or maybe the alternator was already going bad in the car and it's coincidental.

Is there any special type of alternator that I should look into so this doesn't happen again? Will getting that optima battery and a regular 5.7 liter alternator solve this for me? What is it about the red top battery that will help exactly?

Thanks again.

 

The alternator that comes with the car ia pretty stout unit 130-140 AMP, but like most of the others, a good electrical spark or a continuos heavy load will couse a diodes to blow or short out. Just need to very carefull on how new things are hooked up.

 

The resistance(ohms) of your speakers are dependant on the speakers themselves. The stock speakers are 2 ohm speakers(stupid bose!), but your speakers should state the resistance on the box(they're probably 4 ohms). To check the resistance of your speakers, put one probe on one wire feed into the speaker, and one probe on the other speaker wire feed and the ohmeter should give you a reading.