my car shorts out randomly

[lucydayz]

so i have a 98 accord lx coupe it has a short but not a steady one it will just short out the whole car at random times draining my battery super fast.

my srs light pops on & my steady yellow engine light start blinking
(sometimes dissapears for hours its due to the transmission neutral safety switch i have the switch but no port someone sold me the car with a transmission made for another)

the radio gets quieter and quieter and if i hit a speed bump itll fix itself or if i drive on a rough road its like the car is straining to live.I need help i cant do a multimeter test because the car isn't shorted out while im parked only during driving and goes away once the car sits the battery is just competely drained and i require a jump until its shorts out again. if im lucky the short doesn't happen but its happened in the middle of an intersection and i had to get a jump it was quite embarrassing i really want to fix my car if anyone can give me some pointers that'd be great

by the way i have a new battery,starter,radiator,valve cover gasket,fuel pump,fuel line, and thermostat, all done within the last 2 months. My car was running superb till this happened and no i didnt mess up any of those repairs ive checked

 

[billybadboy94]

I would get a good multimeter if you don't already have one and start going through wired. If it's just the body stuff like headlights, interior lighting, radio. Everything's controlled by the multiplex system not your pcm so no need to mess with that.

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[lucydayz]

what does going through wired mean also whats pcm

 

[dawg316]

sounds like an alternator to me

 

[lucydayz]

Would a bad alternator make my whole car short out its not like it happens every time I drive my car . It's like every other day. I ran the car with the positive terminal disconnected and it didn't die so I don think it's the alternator .

 

[billybadboy94]

what does going through wired mean also whats pcm

Pcm=powertrain control module. And get a multimeter and ohm out the wires until you find the short trace that wire down and fix it.

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[billybadboy94]

so i have a 98 accord lx coupe it has a short but not a steady one it will just short out the whole car at random times draining my battery super fast.

my srs light pops on & my steady yellow engine light start blinking
(sometimes dissapears for hours its due to the transmission neutral safety switch i have the switch but no port someone sold me the car with a transmission made for another)

the radio gets quieter and quieter and if i hit a speed bump itll fix itself or if i drive on a rough road its like the car is straining to live.I need help i cant do a multimeter test because the car isn't shorted out while im parked only during driving and goes away once the car sits the battery is just competely drained and i require a jump until its shorts out again. if im lucky the short doesn't happen but its happened in the middle of an intersection and i had to get a jump it was quite embarrassing i really want to fix my car if anyone can give me some pointers that'd be great

by the way i have a new battery,starter,radiator,valve cover gasket,fuel pump,fuel line, and thermostat, all done within the last 2 months. My car was running superb till this happened and no i didnt mess up any of those repairs ive checked

Also check the ground that leads from your negative terminal on your battery to a bracket on your transmission. If this is loose or dirty it can cause all kinds of problems.

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[lucydayz]

New discover oil in spark plug tube #2 I patched it up no oil anymore but when the cars running I'll pull the wire out and the engine dies if I pull the wire on the other ones the car stays on.

Also bought a $20 multimeter and it was wack any suggestions

 

[Nam1911a1]

So you are running on one cylinder?

A 20 dollar multimeter will work for way more applications than you will ever need. It is the user that makes the tool.

I am an electrician and I'll tell you now that you don't need a fancy meter to find what wire is going where. All you need is resistance and continuity. Basic stuff. No need to go out and buy a fancy 100 dollar fluke meter.

 

[lucydayz]

Yeah my meter doesn't have a continuity but as for the cylinder...... I noticed it had oil in it when I pulled it car was off..... I fixed the oil leak and decided to pull it while the car was running the engine died... I pulled the others and it's normal just a drop in idle .....what would cause this my mechanic and I think this has been the problem with one spark plug keeping the whole car on with oil involved shorting out my car ...... there's also smoke coming from what looks like underneath the exauhst manifold cover a lot of it any ideas?