hyunghong08

It all started with my battery dying yesterday. Battery was completely drained yesterday so I jump started the car and headed to a gas station(since I had to warm it up + I needed gas) Filled my tank up fully with 6oz of premix and then tried to start the car but no electricity whatsoever. Door light, 0 dash light, just all lights didn't work along with my remote. So my friend came by to help me jump start my car and it started with no problem. Drove around for 15~20min in highway and went home. Just out of curiosity as soon as I turned off the car(maybe after like a 10 second wait) I tried to turn the car back on but it looked like battery immediately died.

So today I tried to jump start my car but it won't even bud. So I thought maybe the battery is COMPLETELY out so I just went to autozone(with my battery) and got my battery checked out. They fully charged it and told me there's nothing wrong with the battery so I came back home with new bronze terminal connectors and everything back together.

I thought it was odd because usually when I put the terminals back on it sparks up when negative side touches the battery but no spark and I tried my remote after tightening everything. no light no electricity absolutely nothing.

I'm about to go back to autozone to see if the battery is still good because thats weird if there's absolutely no electricity flowing. I still find it odd that last night jump starting worked but all of sudden this morning it didn't.

I searched here and there but really didn't find anything related to "absolutely no electricity" "no Power" All I could find was something relating to 120 main fuse. I took the fuse out and it was intact and was still silver color(looked pretty new to me). So could it be the ground cable from battery to the fuse box? (I did check 90% of the fuses under the hood and inside driverside seat. but I didn't know how to check the bigger black ones since I can't really see the fuse but the connection on the bottom seemed fine lol)

Well there's my dilemma, any inputs guys?

hyunghong08

brand new battery solved the issue... stupid autozone they said they recharged and checked the thing... Battery couldn't hold the charge. but NEW ISSUE = power steering light.

I guess it might be because I messed with fuses and turned the wheel while I was pushing it in the parking to park somewhere close to my buddy's car(for jump starting) Idk.

Never ending problems of 8 :x

ken-x8

Pick up a voltmeter some time. You can get a serviceable digital multimeter for $10 to $15. Then the next time you have battery problems you can make some simple voltage measurements to see if the battery is dead or if the alternator is putting out the right voltage. Saves a lot of wondering, and gets you out of the mercy of the clerk at the discount auto parts store.

I don't recall the details, but there are several things that need to be reset after you remove and replace the battery. The power steering light might be on because of that.

Ken

Razz1

Turn the wheel all the way to the left and then all the way to the right with car on.

That resets the light.

hyunghong08

yeah did that but I thought that was for ABS/DSC lights

What I'm having is the power steering light as described in this good ol thread

https://www.rx8club.com/trouble-shoo...-107481/page1/

Well I did clean the harness with those electrical part cleaner from autozone but I didn't put any digreaser on them so I'll try that today.

but Man everything including the torque sensor are easy to take it out but the connector thats on the actual rack made my finger sore when I was cleaning it up lol

hyunghong08

so an update.

I added dielectric greaser on all the connections now I have battery abs/dsc CEL and power steering light on. it doesn't want to stay on unless I give gas either. I just checked alternater at autozone and they said regulator or whatever on alternator is out. why would putting greaser on the connectors to power steering cause this problem?

hyunghong08

oh wait I know I didn't plug in maf sensor... I feel like an idiot now but still no PS I guess time to order harness

Javii

iTrader: (1)

Don't order anything yet. Try this:

Get the car running, let it idle for about 5~10 mins, give it some gas every once in a while, then shut it off and immediately turn it back on. Check if PS is working, if it is, then you probably have a dark current which is draining your battery when the car is off, and Power Steering is the first thing that gets disabled when you have electrical issues.

If it's still not working it could be the alternator which is not correctly charging the battery.

I highly doubt it's the harness since you already cleaned it.

hyunghong08

I tried turning off and on various times after driving and it never got turned on.

yeah I think it's weird that power steering went out after battery completely died on me I thought about the possibility of my battery going out was due to somehow alternator wasn't charging the battery.

But the funny thing is when I checked the battery today at autozone it was 100% charged with 12.7v so I assumed alternator is charging.

PS did go out as soon as I got the new battery which I find it odd... because according to other posts it's usually because of coolant overflow and I haven't had those.

hyunghong08

I just tried the turn off and turn on and yeah its still there Im here at autozone to check alternator

hyunghong08

just did the battery test and alternator all passed. battery 100% 12.7v alternator charging 14.3v and everything passed. I guess maybe time for new harness?