I'm not sure which details are necessary so I'll include them all.

I bought the car about 3 weeks ago. Had a starting problem then. I switched out the fuel pump relay and it's been fine. Then yesterday on my way to work, I was stopped at a light, light turned green, as soon as I touched the gas, the car stalled out and voltage dropped to around 11 volts and the car would crank but not turn over. Pushed the car back to the house and switched cars to get to work. Tried playing with it today before work and it was dead. Before this, I'd been pulling history codes for air bags, different voltage stuff, lack of communication with ???, and misfire. The car had voltage problems when I brought it home but they went away after a day of driving it. I swapped out the relay again. I've had it hooked up to a 12amp, 6 volt charger but it doesn't build up that much voltage, enough to try cranking for about 5-6 seconds and then I have to let it charge for a little bit again. The connection LOOK fine for the battery. About 2 of the 15 attempts or so, it turned over for about 1-2 seconds and then died out.

Ideas please?!?

...the car stalled out and voltage dropped to around 11 volts and the car would crank but not turn over.This is confusing. What was cranking and what was not turning over?
Tried playing with it today before work and it was dead. Before this, I'd been pulling history codes for air bags, different voltage stuff, lack of communication with ???, and misfire. The car had voltage problems when I brought it home but they went away after a day of driving it.Big clues.
I've had it hooked up to a 12amp, 6 volt chargerSix Volts?? Domestic US cars have been 12 Volts for longer than I can remember.

Tell us what year and model car you are talking about. And if any of the voltage codes you alluded to include a "B1327", your solution might be as simple as a new battery.

This is confusing. What was cranking and what was not turning over?
Big clues.
Six Volts?? Domestic US cars have been 12 Volts for longer than I can remember.

Tell us what year and model car you are talking about. And if any of the voltage codes you alluded to include a "B1327", your solution might be as simple as a new battery.


the engine would crank but not turn over, as in it would crank but not start.


the car battery charger is small, maybe it was 12volts, 6 amps, but I could've swore it said 12 amps, 6 volts

the car is a 99 Seville STS with 117k. I'm looking through some papers that I've taken notes with to see if that code is one that I pulled.

yeah B1327 was one of the history codes I pulled last week

How old is the battery and have you checked the connections to see if they are clean and tight? Battery is under the rear seat if you have not found it yet.

I'm not sure how old the battery is. The car's at home and I'm at work now. The connections look good and clean but I haven't tried taking them off yet.

I like the battery idea but my only thought against that is that when there was enough juice to crank the motor for a few seconds, it wouldn't start.

If the battery was good it would crank the car for a long time after being on the charger. Only cranking it for a few seconds is a sign of a BAD battery.

A weak battery can give lots of false codes.

Have the battery tested and clean the cables really well.

ok, I'm gonna try that in the morning

What about the couple times it started for a second and then quit? Is that another symptom of weak battery or is that a symptom of a spark or fuel problem

It sounds to me like you might actually have a bad alternator... Which led to a bad battery.

that what I first thought cause how it stalled and then the voltage was low right away, and how it died after the 2 times it started for a second

Check the fuel pressure.

The alternator recharges the battery while the car is running. It is like a battery charger. If the alt is bad and let the battery go dead an old battery may not take a charge.

well today instead of charging it, I tried jumping it with my friend's car. With my experience, a good battery with bad terminals will jump with no problem(correct me if you have different experience). The first try, it started for a second and quit, then after that, it would just crank. So right now I'm thinking bad battery and a fuel problem. A mechanic at a Pontiac dealer my brother works at is gonna fix a motor mount for me, plugs, wires, and possibly a coil on Saturday. I'd already planned on him doing all of this so now I might have to get it towed to him on Saturday, which sucks.

How can I check the fuel pressure?

Install a fuel pressure gauge on the fuel rail Schrader fitting.

I forgot one detail, not sure if it's a clue or not. Since this happened, the dash doesn't light up except for the little check engine light, which was there before this happened.

All the codes I pulled before this happened was voltage histories, lack of communication with **** histories, air bag histories, and a missfire which I knew of.

Battery and possibly (more than likely) Alternator.

Get a new one from Napa for $200, will save you some cash.

sounds like it's not geting fuel, could be a pump or a filter

turns out it was just the connection for the relay for the fuel pump. I had a guy take out the fuse box, drill out the leads inside of it and put new ones it, put the wires back in, fuse box back in, plugged the relay back in and now it fires up everytime.

But with fixing that came another problem. Now I'm throwing codes for air shock circuit volatage high, low, circuit censor, and some abs codes, but everything is functioning fine as far as I can tell

Coould still be a bad battery or connection causing low voltage, a perrenial source of random codes.

would just a bad battery make me throw a bunch of codes? And how can I tell if it's the alternator as well. My voltage stays between about 13.6 - 14.1 or 14.2 when driving. And with the radio up, when I change stations by presets, during that little pause before the music picks up, I can hear a slight wine in the speakers? How can I tell if it's the alternator, battery, or both? And yes, I've cleaned the connections to the battery.

would just a bad battery make me throw a bunch of codes?

It depends on what codes and how many codes there are.

I agree with zonie77. Low voltage/bad battery will throw all shorts of codes.

Get your battery/alternator fixed (if that's the problem), then worry about any codes. Many battery places will also check out your electrical system, like Sears. Sears will charge something like $15 or $20 to do that and will refund it if you buy a battery from them.

I hope the problem is minor. Good Luck.

If you know the battery is good, it is possible that the positive cable has corroded underneath the insulation (fairly common, especially with how long the positive cable is on the caddies with the battery under the rear seat).... I wouldn't go replacing stuff blindly though. Definitely get your battery load tested and your charging system tested.

ok, thanks a lot everyone!!

I'm gonna get the electrical system tested this weekend after I put in some new plugs and wires