Dying Alternator, or what?

Crap.

The good news is battery tested at 12.44

That is also the bad news, as that rules out an easy fix I think, especially when combined with what happened next.

Tried to start the car to test the alternator, car turned and 'stated' on first crank,stumbled to 2k rpm and died.

Tried a 2nd time with the same result.

Tried jumping the car with the lancer, same results again.

I don't think it's the battery-- although it's not strong it is working.
I can't test the alternator because i can't start the car, but even with a bad alternator I should be able to start the car with the battery, and/ or with a jumper boost?

Could a bolt or something have worked loose when i went WOT? Could the new timing belt have jumped or something?

Any help is appreciated, because I have no clue. .

:(

fuel pump has also been suggested as a culprit by rick...
car has 133k miles, prior maintenance unkown.
i've owned her for 3 years with no major issues.

i did have an instance this past summer on a 110° day where she died backing into the garage and i couldn't get her to start again until hours later. car was not overheated,an hasn't repeated the act....

well FSCK


More pieces added to the puzzle.....

Just went and played with the car. Looked at the intake tract again and felt it up. Couldn't find any breaks or loose connections on the intake, and all the plugs were seated firmly in regards to the MAF. Figured what the hell, and tried to start the car. She started right up, normally. Scratched my head, walked to the front of the car, pulleys appeared to be tracking just fine. Couldn't see anything wrong. Revved the car lightly while watching pulleys, still looked fine. Scratched head again. Car then died. She ran for between 2-3 minutes total. Tried the paperclip diagnostic and came up with 1 code " 1 5 " which translates to "Oxygen sensor <0.55v 180 seconds after 1500 rpm". Called william who translated that into english for me-- o2 sensor gone bad. So looks like the o2 sensor is bad, but that shouldn't kill the car, should it?

Bought a new o2 sensor, guess i'll find out sunday.....

Is the CAT OK? Since the O2 sensor is possibly dead, I wonder if the CAT broke apart and clogged your exhaust which kills the engine after running for a short time. It is possibly not your problem, but just another thing to r/o. A bad O2 sensor should NOT kill the engine.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sxk122

... after installing the Randal Cowl intake...

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Did you have to mess with the wiring on the air flow meter for the install??

Link - http://www.miata.net/garage/afm_fix.html

no, didn't have to do anything with the intake at all. unbolted the stock snorkel, and bolted this one in.....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gabkwong

Is the CAT OK? Since the O2 sensor is possibly dead, I wonder if the CAT broke apart and clogged your exhaust which kills the engine after running for a short time. It is possibly not your problem, but just another thing to r/o. A bad O2 sensor should NOT kill the engine.

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Good point Gabe. However, when I drove the car, it seemed OK on power. Clogged cats usually result in poor acceleration as well. I also told Simon I didn't think a bad O2 would kill the car. Car drove great when it left TDR. I was thinking vacuum leak as a possibility.

Car ran just fine today. I think the gremlins got scared when they felt my presence... ;)

that may have been the case... car died after rick left ::Censor::


Car was idling, and had been for about 10 minutes when it just died.

Now I'm getting Code 1 and 15 when i jump the pins, but still no CEL when just running....

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH