I own a 97 3.0 CL, just bought it a year ago. I am setting it up to compete in Nopi for sound quality this comming summer and messed up somewhere. I started using half the system before it was completed cuz you can only go so long without music. One time the battery was too weak to start the car an i got a bunch of clicks and lights flashing. After charging the battery, the car worked BUT alot of electronics went bad,

The clock shows 1:00 pm and is too dim to see without pressing the button. The AC/Heating does not remember the setting i turn it off on. And finally the headunit does not turn on. I pulled alot out and checed with a voltmeter and saw that the power going to all 3 of those is only 4 volts when it was around 12 before. Otherwise the car runs fine.

Anybody know whats goin on??

 

more powerful battery???

 

1. hows your battery? Old battery, low cold cranking amps

2. do you still have the stock alternator in there?

 

Sounds like a faulty alternator. After the car starts it does not matter whether you have a battery or not. It should run. That goes to say that even if the battery is bad the alternator should take care of the load of current the car requires. If you aren't getting the right voltage then the alternator is shot.

 

Get an optima yellow or blue top and a bigger alternator

 

Guys, thanks alot for replying. I was thinking its the battery problem or alternator as well, but I thought why would certain things in the car get 12 volts, and other things recieving 4 volts, I am going to try wiring a second battery into the system and hope it does something, then i will know to get a stronger alternator. Does anyone think it could be the computer?
I noticed that the clock resets every time i turn the car off, just as well, it does not change, always reads 1:00. And the AC/heating resets every time i turn it off. I got time on it before Nopi so i can try alot of things out. But thanks for replyin guys.

 

 

Kinda sounds like a loose connection somewhere.

 

if you were taking things apart behind the dash and such check for a loosened ground or even a pinched ground wire somewhere off the clock,radio,a/c harness. possibly even a pinched power wire, try checking for continuity between the power wires at the radio, clock, a/c connectors and ground (with batt disconnected of course) if theres continuity theres a pinched or bare wire grounding out. then check the continuity for the grounds if theres too much resistance you might have a broken wire somewhere in the loom probably not completly broken but strands causing the lights and everything to only light dimly. as far as the bad battery if you turn on your headlights they would light very dimly, if it was the alternator not charging then the car would more than likely die especially with all the electronics you have running. check that out and let me know if all this typing helped or if i just got sore finger tips for nothing