wats up fellas and young ladies. i have a problem with a 1997 mit eclipse gst 2.0 turbo automatic. I'm fixing this car for a friend and am pretty stuck.

Symptoms: Battery is 3months old and was replaced b.c. other one had no charge. (maybe she left lights on, maybe this is related to problem now, dont know) Recently the car's lights would dim and car would stall while coming to a stop. Battery was jumped 5 or so times in one day just to get it from point A to B (not my recommendation. definitely didnt do the battery any good). Car comes to me and I changed alternator, alternator belt, and also did a tune up with just spark plugs, spark plug wires b.c. gas filter did not want to cooperate. (****ty location and not that many tools. stripped the nut a little bit so when i bought flare wrench it wouldnt fit). Any good ideas on how to take that off pls let me know.

I removed power steering pump to help get to alternator, and removed fan to help pull alternator out, removed battery, took top fuel line off gas filter then put line back b.c. gas filter wasnt ready to come off. That is everything I have done to the car. The power steering belt and alternator belt are nice and tight with no slack nor play.

I brought back the replacement alternator b.c. while the car was running my best reading was about 12.5 across the battery. The battery reads 11.9 after the car sits for a while or overnight. I changed alternators and this time new belt and the reading across battery was 13.9. Drove the car around and retested now its 12.3-12.5 again!! Car sometimes idles very very low when coming to a stop. Check engine light has been on for a while and supposedly bad o2 sensor.

I am thinking it could possibly be that the voltage regulator is shot? ECU needs to be replaced? Just a thought.. Figure I'd check out this forum b.c. ECU replacement is costly and I'm not confident it is the ECU.

Thank you for anywho who steps up to the challenge 'the car from hell'...

 

sounds like you may need to check the terminals on the battery and make sure there is a good connection. I had stalling problems with my car and could not figure it out and it just turned out to be a corroded terminal

 

^ What he said, check your battery cables and make sure they are tight This problem has been coming up a lot and most have been problems w/ a poor connection at thebattery terminals.

 

I'm not familiar with this partricular car's charging system but would like to ask if the alternator is using built-in regulator. If not, then the alternator is controlled by ECU or external module and your best bet, given that all the other connections/terminals have good contacts, to check inside ECU and/or external module responsible or simply swap it. I know some chryslers use ECU to control charging system, which is pretty silly, the best would be to have a self contained alternator. Normal reading across terminals with the motor running and some load like headlights is expected around 13.9 - 14.2 Volts. I suggest checking ground connections very closely too.
Good luck and hope we have been ofhelp to you.