so last weekend, i was having issues with the GTA where all of a sudden, i'd lose all electrical functions in the car as if my battery wasn't connected. Battery was only a year old, it's a duralast from autozone. i tested it with my volt meter, and it was at 10 volts. took it down to exchange, they determined the battery was still good after charging it for an hour, and cleaning the posts and everything. they weren't in bad shape either. also got the alternator tested and that was good. threw the battery in, starts right up no problems.

so i let the car sit for a couple days this week, to see if i would notice a draw of some sort, or to see if it wouldn't start. nothing happened. started everytime. let it sit for 2 days even. kept an eye on the volts gauge, and what i noticed is right away when i started it up, it would be past 13 volts. probably at 14 where it should be. after driving for about 15 minutes, the needle moves down to right around 13 and eventually stays around there after driving. i suppose that could be when my radiator fan kicks on. just an observation though.

i go out of town saturday night. drive the car around earlier that day and park it. didn't drive it all day sunday. today i go to drive it, everything is working now, but it isn't cranking. the starter isn't even turning over. once it did actually start and then died right away. kept trying and eventually it started again and this time i kept my foot on the gas so it wouldn't die, and it sounded like it has a misfire at first. then idled down and it ran just fine like nothing was wrong. shut it off, tried again and it didn't turn over again.

here's a video of what it's doing.

 

got in the car and it started right up today. though it did have the service engine soon light on. it was running ok until i pushed down on the gas and it bogged down quite a bit. after idling for a few seconds the light turned off and it ran fine again.

Could someone please give me some input? i wanna get these issues figured out so i don't have to worry about those problems and can move on to other ones.

 

As a test, try turning on your lights first, then try starting. If they dim greatly or die altogether with a loss of power from then on, I'd wager you have a bad connection on the positive side.

If the alternator, starter and battery are good I'd look at the battery cables closely, where the positive connects to the starter especially. If they check out ok I'd look into the wires in charging circuit (battery to fuse box, from starter to battery ect...)

 

I kind of have a feeling it has something to do with the VATs passkey security. other than the fact it ran like crap for a couple seconds after being started up.