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Why Does My Car Keep Dying? What Should I Do If My Car Keeps Dying?
If you are having issues with your car where it keeps dying or stalling out you can understand how frustrating it can be. I’ve compiled this list of things that you can check on your car to make sure that it can run efficiently and stop dying on you.
Ultimately it comes down to how handy you are on working on your own car and how many tools you have at your disposal with how far you will be able to get with checking out these different items in your car.
Battery
If your car keeps dying after you have parked it for a while you may want to take your car to an auto parts store so that they could check it out to see if it needs to be replaced. Batteries typically only last about five years on average so you could be due for a replacement.
If the auto parts technician tests your battery and it comes back saying that it is fine you may want to take a look at your alternator to see if it potentially needs to be replaced as it is tasked with making sure that your battery stays charged.
My Car Battery Keeps Dying
If your car battery keeps dying overnight or after your car has been parked for a while then you likely have a parasitic drain on your battery or it is not charging enough while you are driving around.
If your car has any sort of aftermarket stereo or wiring then you would want to check that wiring to make sure it’s not frayed or connected improperly. You would also want to check to make sure that anything that is connected to your car is not set to draw electricity while the car is off.
This could be anything from a cell phone charger, a radar detector, or a GPS navigation system. Most new cars are designed to not let any devices plugged in draw power while the car is off.
However, on some older vehicles, they will still let devices draw power from the battery even while the car is off. Which could be why your car battery may keep dying overnight. If your car battery keeps dying while driving then this is likely a problem with your alternator.
Alternator
Your car’s alternator main job is to charge your car battery. If your alternator is not putting out a sufficient charge to your battery it will not stay at a proper level. Your alternator should be putting about 13.5 to 15 volts of charge to your battery when your car is running.
If you own a multimeter you can check if your alternator is putting out a sufficient charge by connecting your multimeter to your battery when your car is running. If it is putting out less than 13.8 volts you may want to look at replacing your alternator.
I’ve had to replace the alternator on my current car before and it was putting out about 12 volts of power when it was running. I knew at that point I should look to replace my battery. I have not had any issues since replacing my alternator.
If you’d like to learn more about the cost to replace an alternator you can check out my other article that details the typical costs associated with replacing an alternator.
My Car Keeps Dying New Battery And Alternator
If your car keeps dying even after you have replaced your battery and alternator you need to start looking at why your engine is dying. If your engine has something causing it not to run right it this can also cause your car to keep dying even if it starts up fine.
You should first take a look at what may be preventing air from getting into your engine intake. This would include things like the air intake, air filter, 02 sensors, and throttle body. Clean or replace items as needed.
After you have checked your air intake and filter you would next want to take a look at what may be preventing spark or fuel from working properly inside of your engine. This could be things like your spark plugs, spark plug wires, fuel pump, and catalytic converters. If you are getting any check engine lights that should help point you in the right direction.
Air Intake
If you have not inspected your engine air filter in a long time now would be a good time to take a look to see what kind of condition it is currently in. If it is very dirty you should go ahead and replace it with a new engine air filter to make sure that your engine is able to breathe in clean air.
If your engine is not able to pull in enough air to the air intake this can also cause your engine to stall. Another thing to check while inspecting your air intake filter would be your engine 02 sensors.
If your 02 sensors are failing you should have a check engine light indicating that there is an issue with your 02 sensors. If your 02 sensors are going out your engine cannot accurately calculate how much air is flowing into your air intake and adjust it’s engine mapping accordingly.
Throttle Body
Another part of your air intake that can get gummed up is your throttle body. Your throttle body is at the very end of your air intake and will be attached to the top of your engine. Over time your throttle body can get gummed up with debris that comes in through your air intake eventually this can cause the throttle body flaps to stick and not open according to when your engine is trying to pull in more air.
You can clean your throttle body by first taking off your air intake from the throttle body to be able to inspect it. If it is dirty you can go to your local auto parts store and buy some throttle body cleaner. You can spray the throttle body cleaner onto the throttle body and then clean the surface of the throttle body with a clean rag.
It is important that you use a clean rag during this process as you don’t want old dirt and debris to get stuck in your throttle body and sucked into your engine, you may end up causing damage to your engine if that happened.
I’ve also had issues with this on one of my old mustangs. I was driving down the highway and went to take an off-ramp and suddenly my car shut off. I was able to take the turn (without power steering) and then turn it back on once I got around the turn but that was a scary moment.
I took my car home and inspected the throttle body and air intake. I cleaned my throttle body and put everything back together and I didn’t have any issues with it stalling again after that.
Spark Plugs
If your spark plugs are getting old they may not be adequately doing their jobs of burning all of the fuel in the cylinders of your engine. If your spark plugs are not working efficiently they may not be burning all of the fuel in the walls of your engine’s cylinders.
This can eventually cause excess carbon buildup on the valves of your engine and cause more engine wear to occur. If your spark plugs are not able to fully burn the fuel in the cylinder that can also cause your engine to stall as it may not be producing the needed horsepower to be able to keep the engine turning.
Most spark plugs are going to need replacing in the 50,000 to 100,000-mile range depending on if they are platinum or iridium tipped spark plugs. Iridium spark plugs are the better of the two options and will typically need to be replaced at 100,000 miles. If you are unsure of when your spark plugs were last replaced they are not that hard to inspect and replace if you have never done that before.
I’ve included a video below that shows you how to inspect your spark plugs and replace them if they need replacement. I’ve also included a link to a spark plug article that I’ve compiled that lists the main differences between iridium and platinum-tipped spark plugs.
Iridium vs Platinum Spark Plug Article
Spark Plug Wires and Distributor Cap
If your car is older it most likely has spark plug wires along with a distributor cap. If your car is newer it is likely using spark plugs along with coil packs that have replaced spark plug wires.
If your distributor cap is not able to put out enough power to the individual spark plug wires or spark plugs this can start to cause issues with how well your car’s engine will run. If the spark plugs are not getting enough voltage to burn all of the fuel in the cylinder this can also cause your engine to run rough and make your car keep dying.
If you inspect your spark plug wires and they look to be older you can always replace your spark plug wires pretty easily and cheaply. If you were looking to also replace your distributor cap I’ve never done that so I can’t comment on how easily that job would be. You may want to look up a youtube video on how to do that if you have never attempted it to get an idea as to how hard the job would be for your skill level.
Catalytic Converter
Your car’s engine is basically just a big air pump that sucks in air and then pumps it back out through your exhaust. If your car’s engine isn’t able to efficiently pump that air out through your exhaust because of a restrictive or backed up catalytic converter this can cause issues with how your car runs and may cause it to keep dying.
If your catalytic converter is going bad you should see a check engine light on your dash. You can use an OBD2 sensor to read the code which may indicate that your catalytic converter is going bad or not functioning.
If that is the case it’s better to just replace the catalytic converter with a new one, I would shop around online for one before buying one from a shop. You can always have the catalytic converter that you purchase online installed at an independent exhaust shop.
Check Engine Lights
If you are seeing check engine lights on the dash of your car and are having issues with your car dying you would want to hook up an OBD2 sensor to see what is causing the check engine light to turn on.
You can use an OBD2 sensor to read your car’s check engine light and it should give out a code that you can then look up online to get a determination as to what could be wrong. Sometimes these will also come with their own OBD2 code booklet that you can use to look up the codes inside or they will instruct you to look them up on the manufacturer’s website.
Sometimes these OBD2 codes are not going to be very descriptive when they try to explain what is going on. If you are unsure of where to start with troubleshooting your OBD2 code you would likely want to look up your vehicle’s year, model, and make online with that specific OBD2 code that you are getting to see if you get any specific matches for your vehicle. It may be a common problem for your vehicle that other people have tackled in the past.
What Should I Do If My Car Keeps Dying? – In Conclusion
Hopefully, I have been able to give you some different ideas and solutions to your problem of what should I do if my car keeps dying? You should at least have a few ideas of things that you can now check yourself without having to take your car to a mechanic.
If you try these different solutions and you are still not able to keep your car from dying you may want to admit defeat and take your car to a trained mechanic. Sometimes tracking down the problem to your issue is not that easy for a DIYer depending on how much experience you have on working on cars.