Car probs

[Bigmaxxin]

i have a 89 LX-i coupe, and yesterday, the car had trouble starting, it also fried my radar detector, somehow, anyway, the batt. light would come on only when i braked, and accelerated smoothly, then today, i was going through an intersection, and all of a sudden the car shuts off, i get the check engine, oil, and batt. light all at the same time. i check the batt connections, all the fuses are good, but it jsut wont turn, it almost sounds like its flooded, but i dont see how that could be, my freind told me it may be a problem within the feul injection system, first of all, what would the problem be? electrical issue or what? i dont want to have to take it to a shop because i am low on cash, but i also dont have the time to be dissasembling my EFI, so i guess my question is, is it simple enough? like mabey a loose wire or something? thanx for the help.

[k-roy]

Yea it could be a loose or corroded wire connection. Im thinking it might be the alternator as well. Make sure the alt belt is nice and tight, it should have less than an inch of play in it.
Do you have a ohmmeter or a multitester? The voltage on the battery should read 13.7 when it is running, if its lower than that the alternator is not working correctly. Most car part stores will test out the alternator and battery for free.
Try using a wire brush on the main connections, the starter wiring and the battery posts/cables first.

[erics86dx]

sounds like one of my old problems, first it was my battery, then a month later it was the alternator, get those checked

[Bigmaxxin]

its a new altenator, and the battery is fairly new as well, its only about 2 months old, i dont havve a multitester. it tires to turn over, but its like the engine wont catch.

[Bigmaxxin]

well my dad decided to have it towed to a garage, and they ran tests and found that the ECU was bad, they have already screwed me out of 250 for labor for just finding the damn ecu was bad, and now they want to charge me 438 total with a used ecu, and installation and all. i mean should i cut my losses pay the 250 right now, get it towed to my house again, and try to replace the ecu myself? is the price unreasonable? i just dont know what to think, im thinking about donating it to the church thing and see how much i could get out of it, lmk what you think.

[Blkblurr]

Did you check the ignition switch? You said that all the dash lights came on after the car died. Was it lke when you first turn the ignition switch? Could be a bad ignition switch. That's where I would have checked first.

[Mac]

If you are absolutely sure it is a bad ECU, they are easy to change. They are under the drivers seat in an 88 and I think it's the same for an 89. The most you would have to do is: remove driver's seat (4 bolts)
remove the cover on the ECU (couple of screws)
disconnect wire connector to ECU
remove ECU.

Just make sure you get the correct ECU. If you are going with a used one make sure it's out of a LXi.