I replaced by front struts and axles a few months ago, and shortly thereafter, my DSC and TPMS lights came on. I finally took it to the dealer after months of troubleshooting - it drove totally fine. They told me the thought my positive battery cable was faulty and sending low voltage and triggering a bunch of wheel sensor codes, and they recommended replacing the positive battery cable.

They replaced the cable and all of the codes, as well as the TMPS/DSC lights, went away. I picked up the car and drove home (about 4 miles) without problems.

The next day, after driving about 1 mile, the car suddenly died while I driving about 30 mph. There was no electricity whatsoever - as if there were no battery. I pulled over and pushed the car to the side of the road and climbed in the backseat - the positive and negative battery cables were tight and intact. I then popped the hood (because, why not), and when I closed it, the power came back on in the car, and I was able to restart and drive it.

Any thoughts on what the hell happened?

It seems likely the new positive cable is poorly connected somewhere, but I can't see where it goes away from the battery.

I use the car primarily for driving out of town, and I obviously won't do that until I figure out what this is.

 

Definitely have something loose somewhere. If your +/- cables are tight on the battery then check the other sides of BOTH cables even though they only replaced + cable.

 

exactly what I was thinking. The negative could be loose where it attaches to the frame.

 

Please check for tightness and/or corrosion on your negative ground cable in the engine compartment. (That could've been your problem all along) If loose and not making adequate contact, the car will not run.

 

mdurando
Quite frankly, given the significant energy & expense involved in changing that cable (to fix a TPMS fault?) I'd be very suspicious that they actually did so.
However, if they did, there are only 4 connection points & my guess is that the ones on the underhood jumper box are corroded or loose. Slamming the hood temporarily restored the circuit.
I'd start there.

 

I may not know as much as others around here. But, That was exactly the same inclination I had.
Thanks @MVPeters
I hope you find the problem @mdurando .

 

You might also check your fuses. It's possible the dealership pulled a fuse before replacing the battery cable and the fuse may not be fully re-seated and that may have been altered by the vibration caused by slamming the hood.

 

When you had the half shafts out, did you remove and clean the wheel sensors "real good" ? The DCS/ TMPS uses the wheel sensors to detect changes in a single wheel as compared to the others. Maybe one is not clean or reconnected properly.
Cheap diagnostic item and the hardest part is lifting up the car and removing the wheel.
As for the power issue, Make sure the ground cable on the right engine mount is clean and properly tightened.

Hope this helps
Jeff

 

Thanks for the many helpful replies.

I too believe it is an electrical contact. I drove the car back to the dealer and left it with them. This was exactly 48 hours (and about 5 miles of driving) after I picked it up, after they replaced the positive battery cable and said the car was all good to go. I was hoping/expecting that they would tell me the cable was loose, locate the loose connection, and send me on my way.

They messaged me two days later to say that they suspected a problem with the alternator, and that they needed more time for diagnostics. I decided I had had enough I wanted to just go get the car and deal with it myself. After calling repeatedly and receiving no answer, I finally just showed up, and they weren't happy that I showed up without an appointment. I asked to take my car immediately, which they were hesitant to do because they were still "diagnosing the problem" but I insisted on taking it.

They reluctantly drove the car up to the front of the building and shut it off. I then took pictures of the paperwork they wanted me to sign that outlined their diagnostics, and attempted to leave. But the car was completely dead again! It wasn't a pretty scene.

I then had a long heated meeting with the Dealership manager, and I reluctantly agreed that to leave the car and allow them to complete their diagnostics. I told him that there is absolutely no way that the symptoms (intermittently losing and regaining all electrical power) was a bad alternator.

Today (two days later), the manager called and said that indeed, the problem is a completely dead alternator, and he quoted me $950 to replace it. He told me that a dead alternator would explain why the car would start, run without problems, die suddenly, remain dead for several minutes, and then be able to restart up several minutes later. He said letting the battery sit for a few minutes would allow the battery to regenerate enough charge to crank.

I was insulted that he could pitch such a line of garbage to me. But he stuck to it. And he had no explanation for why they didn't detect a bad alternator in the diagnostics they had performed the week prior. He said it must have gone bad in the 5 miles I drove the car in between picking up the car last week and taking it back 2 days later. Wow.

Needless today, after much argument, I said no thanks and I am planning on having it towed tomorrow.

Assuming the alternator is indeed bad, which I absolutely don't believe at this point:
- is it possible that they could have fried the alternator? ie passed excess current through it or something to deliberately destroy it? and if so, any way to check for that?
- what would you do in this situation?
- WTF??!

Oh, and he also recommended a new battery. cause if your alternator is bad, so is your battery...right?

 

Thanks for the idea. I did take off the wheels and clean the sensors on both sides "real good" several times. I was actually tempted to just replace the sensors, which is pretty cheap, but I decided instead to take it in to the Dealer first, which of course, has turned out to be a HUGE mistake.

 

thank you. which fuse do you have in mind? like do you mean in the fuse box on the driver's side under the hood?

 

yeah, my thoughts exactly. I honestly don't believe a word these guys say (see my long post). would you mind elaborating on where the underhood jumper box is? Is this the positive terminal in the back middle under the hood? thanks

 

Yes, it has a big plus sign on it.

 

Yes, just to the left of the air box.
It should be easy enough to tell if the cable is new - under the car, it will be either gleaming red or covered in mud.