today i posted how after my heads cam install and pro magnum nsa roller rockers i had some problems and someone suggested it might have been too tight rockers and it was. i drove the car tonight with new 230/236 cam,lloyds heads,etc......oh my god this thing pulls like an animal. but while i was driving home the car just completely shut down no lights no warning just died. i pulled over it fired right up.what could that have been?

 

Good chance a bad battery connection. Last time I disconnected my battery to do some work, when I connected the + the bolt snapped. I drilled and put a new on in but it wasn't/isn't a great fit. A couple of times it came a little loose and I was driving along and all of a sudden dead...nothing, no lights, nothing. Sometimes it would fire right away again, sometimes I had to mess with the cable/bolt and then it was good to go again.

Aaron

 

Once the car is started you can remove the battery.

A buddy of mine had a similar problem. He'd be driving, the car would just shut off. Usually it would start up no problem. It turned out to be a rub through. When the bare portion of the wire would make contact with something it would short out the fuse and just kill the car.

Especially since you've done so much work in the engine bay recently, you've probably moved quite a few wires out of place. That's what I'm betting on.

 

Start the car and remove the battery?

That would just kill it.

 

The same thing happened to me in my Grand Prix, it ended up being a battery wire that was pinched between the airbox, and it finally just broke. I would definitely check all of your battery connections.

 

uhh.... nope

once the car is started it runs off the alternator. my friend and i bought a car from a guy that he said didnt run. well it had the distributor off by 180 degrees. so we turned the distributor around, borrowed a battery to start it, took the battery out and drove it home.

 

My alternator crapped out on my once and I ran the car purely on the batt. for ~20 miles.

I thought it still ran off the batt., but the alt. was there to keep a charge on it?

 

I think that the battery completes the circut in are cars so if it goes out or is disconnected the ignition and all the other electronics shut off. This might have been different in your buddies car.

 

yes and no

the car will run off just the batt. but will quickley kill it. like in your case.

but the alternator creates its own charge (if working properly), and will keep the car running as long as you dont shut it off.

the battery just starts the car, it holds enough charge to engage the starter and the alternator recharges the battery and the brushes inside creat the electricity thet keeps the electronics going.

 

I think that the battery is there to regulate the current. Not just start the car.

 

some alt. need to be actueated, some dont. one car may run with the battery out, anothe brand wont, all depends on the style of alt.


as far as your car, it could be getting used to or "learning" the cam. i wouldnt worry as long as every thing checked out ok. oil water ect. as long as it doesnt keep this up.

in the old days before we had programmers and stuff it would take sometimes a couple weeks for the pcm to get adjusted to the cam.

 

can we discuss something a little more interesting than this battery crap?maybe the beauty of watching paint dry.

 

The battery's only job is to start the car! and if for some reason the voltage load is too much(large stereo systems) for the alternator the battery will take the excess. Once the car is started, with a good alternator in it, you can take the battery out and the car will stay and run fine untill you turn it off.

This is one quick test of the alternator:
start car
unhook either battery cable
car stays running = alternator is good
car dies = alternator is bad

 

If the battery runs the car then why are you able to push start a manual car when the battery is dead?

As for your problem - check for those rub throughs. Are you blowing any fuses? Are you getting any codes? Good luck man, hunt and kill that little gremlin.

 

Because that turns the alt. which puts voltage through the battery.