So my car sat for about 3 weeks without anyone driving it or turning it on and now the electrics are going crazy on me.

Problem number 1: The "headlight out" warning comes up on the LCD when both lights are on, have never had a problem with this false warning before.

Number 2: Whenever the car is on the reverse lights are on.

Number 3: When I turn my car off the radio "resets". I'll be on cd changer (ipod hookup) when I turn my car off, then when I turn it back on I'll have to manually turn on the radio and when I turn it on its on fm. Before it would just turn on with the car and go right back to the cd changer.

Whats going on!


Another thing annoying me that I dont understand is that I put on my 17mm rear and 13mm front spacers and I thought if I noticed anyhting it would be a little stiffer with a wider wheelbase. Instead though it doesnt seem nearly as stiff and is "clumsy" almost its hard to describe. It rebounds after a turn and bounces off dips in the highway. This is annoying me more than any of the elctronics...

 

Maybe your battery is low when the engine is cold? I've heard of electrical gremlins presenting themselves when the battery voltage is low.

As for the effects of widening - this made the suspension softer. Widening with spacers effectively lengthens the moment arm against the shock/spring so it reduces the stiffness of the shock/spring. This is one reason why it is recommended to use wheels with the appropriate offset instead of spacers (but I know this wasn't an option for you).

 

Are the spacers hub-centric? Any leaks that you can see? Could be a short someplace causing the electrical issues

 

This is the exact conclusion that I started to come to since it makes sense.

And my voltage shoots up to normal every time, the "bulb out" indicator come on even when I just push the stalk up one click, so headlights not on, which makes me think faulty sensor or loose connection?

And Chris what kind of leaks are you thinking?

 

Water leaks. I would check the battery tray, the box that contains the ECU, check the driver and passenger's side front and rear footwells, crap like that.

 

Just lower your car more so you don't care about performance at all.

When my car sat for a month I had some weird problems as well. Drive your car and they should work themselves out.

 

Fixed.

 

get your battery tested... it seems like it doesn't hold much of a charge and your car is only running with the alternator or vice versa... autozone or kragen does battery testing for free, also test your alternator

after that then you have a short or a bad ground somewhere

 

I know my batterys fine, maybe I should just slam my car that seems to fix everything!

But I also just realized that my rear dome lights dont work... looks like its time to go searching for some kind of short. And I'll look for leaks today since the sun is out for the first time in about a week..