MX-3.com

I am kind of new to driving a stick, but i think i drive well now. I had a few months of practice (i guess everyone had to have learned sometime..) Whats a good RPM to shift at for normal highway driving I have been shifting around 3200-3800. Red line starts at 6200

Anyway Heres some info about my car

1995 MX-3 1.6L DOHC 5 speed standard

Symptoms:

1) When I stop at a red light and start to move my RPMs drop and sometimes i am stuck rolling at like 3mph for a good 5-10 sec. ( i was in 1st ). This tends to become less of an issue after driving for about 10-15mins.
But i keep thinking of what might happen if i stall in the middle of an busy intersection ><

2) When I start my car in the morning (or after letting it rest for a few hours) All my electoral accessories act very strange.
First, My radio only works when I either press the brake, clutch, or put it in neutral. (this is very annoying almost makes me want to ride the clutch when a good song is playing =p)
I also noticed that if i press my power window (either side) they keep moving until i press the brake/clutch or neutral.
My driver side window goes up about 3/4 the way than nearly stops. it moves up by 2mm bursts this is probably the rubber lining (I seen a post about it)
At night my lights will get dim than bright than dim again, this makes me think its something with the battery maybe?

3) 2 weeks ago My Charge light turned on, It stays on all the time now. about a week or so after the light turned on my hood began to smoke and smell like rotten eggs. It turned out that my battery was completely drained of water, So i filled it up (the light remained on). earlier today The same thing happened. Battery is drained of water and smoking.
I am going to replace the battery soon but fear that if the battery is not the main issue the new battery could be subject to unnecessary wear.

4) lastly, a week or so ago The car started to make a loud noise from the back (something exhaust related?) during acceleration its loud but when in neutral (still louder than before) its not that bad and i hear a rattling sound also.

P.s Great site. Tons of info

Sorry if i posted this wrong, first time poster.

You've got the right idea, so go with your instinct. Get a new battery, check the battery cables for rust, corrosion and cracks, then clean them up with some sand paper. Use some dielectrode grease on them to keep them from corroding when you replace the battery. Your alternator could be shot too. Running the car with a bad battery can kill an alternator. If the charge light stays on take the alternator out and bring it to a auto parts store. They can usualy check them and see if it is bad. If it checks ok then you should replace the positive and negative battery cables.
This should solve most of the issues you've described above, but post back if you are still having issues after you've done ALL of the above.
You might also put a bottle of fuel injector cleaner in next time you fill the tank with gas to help with the hesitant acceleration.

When an alternator goes what ends up happening is all the electrical systems in the car (fuel pump, ecu, fans, radio etc) are running solely off the battery power and it will not last long in this state, usually enough to get you home or off the road at least. The radio is usually your first sign that something is up. Most everything else can operate below 12 volts but the radio needs a higher voltage to work so thats usually the first thing to mysteriously shut off and the first sign to get the car off the road immedately.

But your problem is strange. You say you press the clutch or brake and that makes the radio work? Hmm the brake could make sense if your car was overcharging. The radio shuts off protecting itself and once the brake lights come on they take alot of juice from the system and might bring the voltage down enough for the radio to work again.

In fact this is most likely your problem. I remember once I had my alternator start overcharging on me and when it did the voltage went over 18 volts!! It should be at 14.5. If this was happening to you then your symptoms would make sense. At a high voltage like that, relays might stick (windows not stopping) and electrical systems get confused about what the hell is going on. The touching the brake and the radio and windows working are what give this away for me. Because the tail lights are taking away enough current for the systems to operate normally for a bit. Also, the fact that you lost all the water out of your battery is a dead give away. Batteries vent gasses when they are being charged at normal voltage and I can imagine if you were suffering 18+ volts into the battery designed for 14 its going to vent.... ALOT.

How well does your car start? If it starts good then your terminals are most likely fine.

Id say your alternator is gone and more specifically, the voltage regulator inside the alternator is gone causing outrageous voltages to come from it.

This is an easy test though, get a voltmeter and with the car running measure the voltage at the battery... if its more than 14.5 then im right!

Solution:
1. Buy new alternator
2. Remove old one and replace with new one
3. Drive the mx-3 and thank god youre alive!