2004 Saturn Vue Electrical issues?

BMURRAY

MEMBER
2004 SATURN VUE
6 CYL
FWD
MANUAL
67,000 MILES

Not sure what's going one. I was at a stop light and when I started to accelerate I lost all power. Car "sputtered" out and died. I started it again and check engine light came on and it died again. Got to the side of the road and turned hazard lights on. Turned vehicle off and the doors locked and unlocked with the flash of the hazards, interior lights flashed as well. Turned car back on and turned hazards off. Idled very low and died. Started it again and off I went. Seemed fine. Parked it for 5 hours. Started it and daytime running lights weren't on, blinkers flash really fast like one of the bulbs is out. Made it about a mile and it died. Had to push it into a parking lot and have it towed home. Having AC on sucks more power and it dies fast than when it's off. I replaced the battery but the check engine light is still on and the blinkers are fast.
Fuel Filter? Electrical problem? Computer issue? Help!

7 Replies

SATURNTECH9

MECHANIC
30,869 POSTS

First of all thank you so much for the donation. Do you have a voltmeter we can check the voltage to the battery at idle?Also you need to rent a scanner so you can check the code's it has. Let me know what you find.

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Thursday, June 24th, 2010 AT 10:51 PM

BMURRAY

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4 POSTS

Not having much luck. There are no automotive places where I live that rent out code scanners anymore and my car won't run long enough to even get it out of the driveway so I think I'm just going to have to end up towing it to a shop or something.

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Monday, June 28th, 2010 AT 10:18 AM

SATURNTECH9

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That's a tough one there if you had a multimeter we could check the alternator while it was running. Also have you checked all the fuse's?Yeah unless you wanted to invest in a code reader but the affordable one's only read engine and transmission code's you couldn't use it to see if you were able to talk to the body control module to help you see if it was bad. It sound's like your best bet would be to tow it to a shop like you were thinking. Let me know if you find anything new about it or change your mind about having it towed in and need any more help with it.

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Monday, June 28th, 2010 AT 11:14 AM

BMURRAY

MEMBER
4 POSTS

The service shop called me and said that it was bad wiring from the fuel pump relay. Something or other? Which is why the daytime running lights weren't working and why it kept stalling. They are going to fix it this afternoon and I should be good as new. Hopefully! Fuel filter was fine. How often are fuel filters supposed to be changed though?

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Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 AT 1:31 PM

SATURNTECH9

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Glad to hear that it got figured out as far as your fuel filter it's located in the gas tank.I looked over the change interval on it and went up to 150,000 mile's and didn't show it need to be change all the way up to that point.