2000 Galant V6 Electrical Failure for Electrical Experts

[FooseGalant]

The Problem - Charging System Malfunction
2000 Galant V6 Electrical Failure

Symptoms:
1. Battery drains down from 12.6V to 6V in 40 miles.
2. Below 30 mph the car starts shifting erratically and down shifts hard.
3. Idle drops to sub 900 rpm.
4. SRS and Antilock warning lights come on but functionality remains 100%.
5. Tachometer and speedo stop working.
6. Directional turn signals click but do not light.
7. Temp gauge reads low temp but external engine temp reading remains normal.
8. No Charge Light. (Battery light on dash)
9. Car dies and won't start.

Remedies already applied (Some were a matter of scheduled maintenance)
1. New battery
2. New alternator
3. New belts
4. New power steering pump
5. New battery terminals and negative cable

Current status
1. Auto parts store recharged battery and I reinstalled.
2. They checked for ODB fault codes – None were recorded. (Likely erased at battery removal)
3. I noted that the winding on the new alternator seemed to be dark, like it was burnt or over heated. (Output was checked and it was determined that the internal regulator had fried.) This was the first replacement.
4. Car was driven home about 3 miles and parked.
5. Battery voltage checked 18 hours later. Reading 12.45 volts. Not draining over night.
6. Car starts fine.
7. Took apart, inspected, tested and re-loomed wires from starter and alternator to battery.
8. Checked all ground locations for proper contact.
9. Checked charge indicator bulb. Not blown.
10. Checked all fusible links in relay box.
11. New alternator installed X2. (After original alternator and replacement passed bench test I tried them both in car with the same symptomatic results)
12. Recharged battery and tested voltage. Reading 12.89 volts at off.
13. Terminal voltage reading at idle is 12.45 volts.
14. Battery light still does not come on when ignition is turned on. Does not come on when car is running either. No other dash lights at issue.

If you have run across this problem and tried something other than what I have done, please let me know your secret. I have had a dome light failure that shut the car off before, so I am prepared for some ridicules fault/fix to work around another Mitsubishi engineering failure.

If you decide to accept the chall...., you know the rest.

[kylecanthurdle]

ok, this is gonna sound so stupid but it may work. i did this exact same mistake a while back but make sure the belt is tight. tighten it to where you think its good, then go 3-4 more turns on the adjuster. what is the voltage at the battery with the car idling out of curiousity?

[Hevymetalg]

Isn't their a recall in that front wiring harness issue?

I'd look up the recall in your car.


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[dknight3]

sounds like you need a new gauge cluster to me. could be a wiring problem though.

[FooseGalant]

Thanks kylecanthurdle,
I will tighten this a bit. It was only finger tight on the tensioning bolt. I far as I could do it by hand before I tightened the pulley nut. Thanks.

[FooseGalant]

Thanks Hevymetlg,
I will look into this. I have owned the car since new and did not know about this recall. Thanks.

[FooseGalant]

Hello dknight3,
I thought it might have a problem. Now that the battery is fully charged all the gauges work just fine. If the battery power drains down on this car all sorts of electrical issues crop up. The SRS and Antilock take a lot of power at start up. Since the charge light does not come on at all when the ignition switch is turned on but not started the problem is pointing in a different direction. Thanks for the input, much appreciated.
Paul

[FooseGalant]

The voltage at idle is 12.49 volts. It appears that the alternator is not charging as the voltage should be between 13.8 and 15.3 with no lights or accessories on. I have tried both tested alternators and get the same readings on both. I think I have eliminated the alternator as the direct cause of the issue. Thanks again.

[6G72gearhead]

The car has a protocol to systematically shut down un-needed circuits as battery voltage drops. I've heard of some vehicles even completely shutting down the transmission control so it has to be shifted manually and the TC won't lock.

Look for the ground strap off the back of the engine, make sure its still there and connected from the engine to the firewall.

Also inspect the wiring to the alternator, make sure its all in good condition.

[oakrdrs187]

This may be irrelevant but... a while back I was diagnosing a suspect (NEW) alternator. I used it on car "A" for maybe a month then upgraded to the eclipse which is a little bit higher amp rating. The one I pulled I installed in car "B" that needed a good alternator. After install I went to check idling voltage and it was 12.4 same as if the car was off. For a while I left it alone since i didnt move it, but then I did more work to get the car ready to be sold. Car "B" needed an instrument cluster cuz I pulled the one it had to use on car "A" because its original had a stuck fuel gauge. I got a junkyard cluster for car "B" because it didn't have one at all, I installed it and for some strange reason decided to check voltage. I did and 14.4 at idle, I thought WTF!
I thought about it and with the car running disconnected the cluster and the voltage was still at 14.4, turned it off and on again and 12.4, then with the car running plugged in the cluster and voltage went up to 14.4. So in short the alternator would only charge with a cluster plugged in. Perhaps it isn't charging because the cluster is bad or the battery light bulb is burned out, you did say the battery light doesn't light when you hit the key. Try changing the battery light bulb for another one that works.

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[FooseGalant]

Isn't their a recall in that front wiring harness issue?

I'd look up the recall in your car.


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There is a recall. But the dealer said it was not on my car. The part is $200. No discount from Mark Mitsubishi. As a dealer and Mitsu as a mfg they suck. It looks like I will have to remove the harness and re-loom one properly. It beats putting the same piece of crap OEM part back on. Mitsubishi engineers are the worst in the business for strait up stupid workmanship. No wonder they are going out of business.

[FooseGalant]

Went through that and the recall info. The wiring is likely the problem. Just s*&t engineering from Mitsubishi. I almost wish I could take the body and mount it on another chassis from a different car maker. Thanks for your help.

[FooseGalant]

I'll give this a shot and let you now. Thanks for the help.

[FooseGalant]

I'll give this a shot and let you now. Thanks for the help.

I removed the front harness and tested all the leads for continuity and they checked out fine. Rewrapped the harness and replaced all the mounting / routing fasteners. I checked all the ground locations for proper contact. I removed the cluster and tested the bulbs and locations. I replaced the charge bulb with a known working bulb without curing the problem. The only item left to check is the CPU. I will have to take this to somebody as it is beyond my knowledge. It appears the cause may have been the replacement alternator with a bad regulator. When it failed it spiked voltage to the CPU and damaged it. This is only a guess though. If anybody has any more ideas please let me know. I guess I need a good electrical person in Phoenix Arizona. No, I will not be taking it to Mitsubishi and there is no depth of intelligence at that agency anyway. They just replace parts using the shotgun method. I do not have that kind of money to replace parts that are not bad because the dealer can't diagnose problems effectively.
Thanks for listening. "This car will self destruct in 5 minutes by design"

[6G72gearhead]

Before you continue to replace parts or replace the PCM you need to test for voltage and do voltage drop tests. First you need to check for voltage drop from the positive battery terminal to the alternator output.

You can get wires to resistance test fine, but they can still be bad as the resistance goes up as current passes through the wire. When you voltage drop test wires you are trying to see if any voltage is trying to bypass the wire through your meter.

Its not totally impossible to have 2 bad alternators, unlikely, but not impossible.

Get ahold of a wiring diagram and test to see how much voltage is getting sent to the regulator to run the stator, that could easily be the cause of the issue.

[Johnnytankers]

I am having similar issues with my 1999 Galant ES V6. Just wondering if u were able to resolve this issue and how. I also live in Phoenix, AZ so if u were able to help that would be awesome. Thanks

[Isaurio]

1. Check all your fuses both engine bay and side the dash
2. Check ground cable make sure is having contact with frame. Ground is a plus
3. Check alternator cable.

Here is the thing. Pcm uses voltage for a lot a lot of the sensor specially fuel

If voltage drops from 14v. Pcm is force to adjust latency because of the voltage drop. You will see idle problems even stall, even random miss fire.

I would change the cluster gauge to test the lights.

[FooseGalant]

I am having similar issues with my 1999 Galant ES V6. Just wondering if u were able to resolve this issue and how. I also live in Phoenix, AZ so if u were able to help that would be awesome. Thanks

Hi, Just getting back to this issue. Battery charged to 12.44 V. Cables are both off the battery terminals. I measured the voltage across the (-) battery cable and the (+) battery pole with a meter and got 5.12 V reading. Reversed the measurement for the other cable and got a 3.68 V reading. I would have thought that the voltage should both be 0 V.

Off to do more research. Let me know if you came up with anything for your issue.

Paul

[FooseGalant]

Before you continue to replace parts or replace the PCM you need to test for voltage and do voltage drop tests. First you need to check for voltage drop from the positive battery terminal to the alternator output.

You can get wires to resistance test fine, but they can still be bad as the resistance goes up as current passes through the wire. When you voltage drop test wires you are trying to see if any voltage is trying to bypass the wire through your meter.

Its not totally impossible to have 2 bad alternators, unlikely, but not impossible.

Get ahold of a wiring diagram and test to see how much voltage is getting sent to the regulator to run the stator, that could easily be the cause of the issue.

I tried the drop test, I think. Put the meter (+) probe on the alternator (+) pole and the (-) probe on the (-) battery cable and started the engine. Reading 12.4 V.
I did a voltage test at the battery poles while running. Reading 12.4 V. Not sure if there is another test method. Charge light does not light on dash when ignition is turned on. Bulb was good.

[Koonus]

Hey. I am sorry that I revived this old thread but after reading it, I solved my problem with electricity. I remember when my electrical system of my car broke down it was at the worst possible moment. Not only that but the light in my house got blown out as well. It was so bad honestly. Especially since I didn't know a good electrician at that time. I was so annoyed. While I waited for my car to get fixed I started talking with a guy who actually worked as an electrician (imagine that) at a company https://bates-electric.com/locations/richmond-va/. He got my contact information and he came over the next day and fixed all the bad wiring in my home. The guy save my life because he solved all the electricity problems in some hours.