My guages and computer has gone crazy. I was doing 70 sitting at the red light. When I rev the engine high, it seems to go back to normal. The trannie does not want to shift when this is happening. The guages keep flashing full and back to normal and the display lights up with everything. My battery keeps going dead. Any ideas?

1993 SSEi

tHANKS,
tIM

Doing 70 at a stop light is too fast My first thought was your VSS(Vehicle Speed Sensor) as that can do wacky things when it'* at fault(transmission, speedo, cruise control to name a few). But then you say that your guages are going back and forth as well. I would look at your electrical(ground) connections. Make sure the battery connections has no corrosion on the terminals. The rest of the gearheads here can give you some other stuff to ponder. Good Luck.

Could a low battery cause this?

I think the alternator is a pretty good bet.

I agree. In particular, the dash controller (gauges, DIC, etc.) will reboot itself if voltage dips too low for a second, which is why you're seeing the occasional needle sweeps and display prove-outs.

First, hook up your battery to a charger and give it a _solid_ charging session, such as overnight. If things seem back to normal the next day, get an output test done on your alternator: I think you're going to find that it'* not recharging the battery properly.

(Once your battery gets a nice full charge, things may appear to be all better again, but that'* only because you can drive for a surprisingly long time on battery power alone, before system voltage gets so low that weird things start happening, as you saw.)

I charged the battery and it seem to fix everything. I just replaced the altenator a couple months ago and will have it checked out again. Thanks for all the help. This thread can be closed.

I've said it before......

A weak/bad alternator will KILL a battery. A weak/bad battery will KILL a good alternator.

If either is over 2 years old, replace them as a set. Not just one, or you'll get caught in a vicious cycle.

no truer words spoken

i had an alternator go bad not to long ago, and all of my gauges went haywire on me. The only thing it didn't do it move the speedometer.

Right, the "crazy gauges" are doing their needle-sweep routine when the controller reboots, which in turn will happen anytime the system voltage gets way too low (even though it'* still just barely high enough to keep the car running). That'* supposed to happen only when you start the car, which is supposed to be the only time that the controller wakes up and does its thing.

That'* right; although the speedometer is an electronic gauge like the others, not cable-driven, it'* not programmed to do a needle sweep on startup. (Neither is the tach, if you have one.)