I had the stock battery in the car and it kept dying. When im driving the car it will jus shut off sometimes and i would have to jump start and it would start working. Took it to autozone the battery was bad so i bought a optima redtop ( ive had this battery in my lexus in 2002 than my lincoln till now never dies best battery ever.) so i put a new one in the Z and worked fine till couple of hours later. im at the light and the car keeps sputtering and its about to like die. radio turns off lights turn off but the car keeps like sputtering and moving and im going like 10 mph. Got it home and jump started it and it works fine.
Whats the problem?

 

your alternator is probably shot. Start the car and take a multimeter to the battery terminals... if your alternator is good, they should read about 14V... I suspect it's not good.

 

Sometimes the terminal connectors oxidize and build up a lot of white powdery stuff cuasing intermintant power problems. But what you are describing sounds an awful lot like an alternator putting out 8-10vdc or nothing at all.

there are quite a few re-manufactures of alternators, get the one that has the good warrenty offered, Alternators on the Z tend to go out every few years. It should cost between 120$-180$.

 

Yeah, bad connections are very possible as well. I once had a loose firewall ground that caused my car to shut off occasionally while driving.

But I've never had an alternator die on me naturally (in 7+ years of Z32 ownership). They only really go bad frequently if there's a power steering leak directly above it. Of course, age will do it, I'm just saying that they aren't considered to be problematic.

 

im goin to take the car to autozone tomorrow to get the alternator checked out.

i started the car fine this morning and found out some more problems.
whenever i press the window down button my radio turns off, when i turn the a/c on it turns off. the abs lights is on. when i brake the radio turns off and like the car wants to die. if i jumpstart it the car will turn on immediately. today after it was jump started i left the car on while i put the t-tops back on (the dash was dim like crazy and one headlight worked) the car just turned off. im thinking from using search what other people had these issues is that its the alternator. but will find out for sure tomorrow!
thanx for the input guys

 

that's your alternator

 

Yeah, the car starts systematically shutting down unneeded electronics when it senses power loss. Your alternator is shot (I'm saying that with over 99% confidence).

 

yea
i got a lifetime alternator from napa auto parts for 180.00 and installed from meineke for 90. hows does that sound?

 

Not mechanically inclined? Alternator change is fairly easy on the Z32...

But did it resolve your problems?

 

I really hope you had it done on your car cuase you were running VERY short on time and not cause you are mechanically challanged.....a 12-18 year old car as complicated as a Z might not be the best choice for you if an alternator replacement is too challanging. I hope it fixed your problem!

 

no thats the price and such that i can get the labor for.
i have the alternator i was just saying what you guys thought of it.
guess its easy to do.
ill do it myself tomorrow!!

 

Yeah, it's a couple 12mm bolts and nuts... go at it entirely from underneath. Since it's your first time, take your time and pay attention to everything you're doing.

 

ok guys i changed the alternator today!
took me 3 hrs
i start the car and the belt starts to squeal?
what do you think it is?
tight?
loose?

 

loose belts or somehow you got grease on the belt and now its squealing


Tighten the belts you loosened according to the service manual Don't over-tighten because the bearings on the water-pump especially are prone to failure if over-tightened. If that doesn't help you can try belt dressing or new belt(s).

The first time you do anything up front on this car it takes a while, don't worry about it, after you do a couple 60k kits you will be a pro and be able to break down the front of the engine in 30 minutes.

 

okay i tightened the belt and now its not squealing!
all my electronics works and i can turn the car off and on without having to jumpstart it!
one question tho. how do i know if i tightened the belt too much?

 

i checked how much slack the other belts have and it seems i got the same on my alternator belt. so should be ok right?

 

belt play should be i think its about 1/8 of an inch. thats kind of a standard little all cars standard i go with and same with most people.

 

if you view the online shop manual in the front under general information there is a diagram that shows how much deflection under how much pressure there should be in each belt. That is how you measure it.

the cheater's way is to try to twist the belt it should twist about 1/2 way in the middle of the longest run between pulleys.