So I was driving my car to work and I came to a red light,sat there for a sec,then all of a sudden my rpms dropped to 500 then the car died. I tried to start it and it would start then die again and I kept doing this and I would pump the gas and it would rev up and die rev up and die and finally it started and stayed running. I noticed my volt meter was at about 8 and then it would drop then 8 again until it started and then once it started it went to 13. Now when I heard the fan kick on my rpms dropped to 500 then back to normal idle. Does this sound like the alternator is going out on it? I had made the mistake at home of opening the radiator cap when it was hot and it sprayed coolant all over the alt. Would that have caused my problem? I am really confused. It has only died on me once before but it fired right back up no problem. What do you guys think?

 

Alternator shouldn't cause it to stall unless the battery was dead to begin with. Dropping to 8 volts may be because idle is supposed to be at 7-800, and dropping to 5 is killing the signal for the voltage regulator to regulate 14v's. It is possible that water caused this, but if you can rev it and keep it running, and it holds a solid 14vs without moving I wouldn't assume the alternator is dead, that it's more sensor, like possibly the IAC valve. The IAC controls idle (idle air control valve), and would cause an issue of not maintaining idle and stalling if it was carboned up inside the throttle body, or if it stopped moving as fast as it should. You can pull this sensor out, can't remember wrench size, but you can recognize it on your throttle body by the big square, 4 pinned plug, i want to say on the pass side of the throttle body, but been a while since I looked. Take it out and see if it's covered by carbon or if the hole has any either inside.

Also is there any trouble codes when it stalls?

 

no trouble codes cehck engine light did not come on at all. the idle is normally at about 700 so it stays pretty normal most of the time. the only time the volts drop is when the fan kicks on and it would drop to 8 but then come back up to 13 or when i click on the turn signal and it will click back and forth with the turn signal like 13 to 11 back and forth till the signal comes off but it was really weird i will look at it when i get off work but as forthe not starting it would start rev and i could rev it to about 2500 then it would die unless i pumped the gas really fast.

 

Sounds like your gauges has a grounding issue for what ever reason. To rule that your alternator is truely going down to 8 volts, you need to put a second gauge on it, or like you said, it's when the fan comes on, so stay in the engine bay with a voltage meter till the fan comes on or have someone flick on the turn signal to test the actual voltage. You may be seeing a false reading and the stalling is just a coincidence.

 

yeah i took the car to my buddies place a while ago and had him check the battery and also check the charging system. he said the battery tested good and that the car was producing the correct voltage but it is still weird. I will check the sensor like you said sometime today after work and see how it goes from there. i will also check the time just for giggles to see what that is at as well. the only reason i would want tio check the timing is because when i drive the car and push in the clutch the rpms will stay at about 1100 for a couple seconds then drop to 700 but also when he fan kicks on the rpms will drop a little then come back up. anyways i have a good list of ideas to check so thanks red