Hi! When i tried to turn left yesterday, my car suddenly stopped with both the “check engine” light and “battery” light on, but the heat, headlights and radio were working just fine. I turned off the engine, and waiting a few minutes, ad then restarted the car, and everything is fine. I do not drive the car today. My question: is this a problem with the battery or the electric line? When the “battery” light is on, can i conclude it’s a problem limited to the electric line only rather than a fuel line. My car is Chevy Malibu, 1999, with 90,000 mileages on it. Thanks. lee
Uh boyee… You state that your car STOPPED? What do you mean…how did it stop? Was it as though someone put the brakes on without your knowledge? Do you mean the car stalled? Because in the next sentence you say that you shut off the engine…so obviously it did NOT stall…so I am rather confused about you saying that the car stopped.
“my car suddenly stopped with both the “check engine” light and “battery” light on, but the heat, headlights and radio were working just fine”… This is a STRANGE thing to say…I am sorry I dont quite grasp what it is that you are trying to relay to me.
When your Battery light came on… This is indicative of a charging system fault…Usually an alternator issue.
The check engine light is alerting you to the fact that you now have an engine trouble code… You need to read this code and tell us what the actual code is…so that we can tell you what to do next
PLEASE elaborate for us regarding the first sentence…I’m still confused Sir
Blackbird
Thank you for your note and sorry for the confusion as I am not good at the tech words. Actually, I have just check and found a post that is similar to mine: “aturner13 January 2008 Report
When I was driving and turning a corner, my car just stopped and the battery light came on.I had the battery and altrenator check out and it was fine!What else could be the problem for car to shut off?Thanks”. BustedKnuckles January 2008 Report
The battery light will always go on when the engine dies. This is because the alternator is not turning, and the battery is not being charged. If the light goes back out after the engine is restarted, then there is no problem wit the charging system. Another thought. Is your battery securely tied down? I’ve seen a lot of people with older cars and batteries flopping around, causing problems. Hopefully, yours is not one of them." I thnik BusterKnuckles’s comment is very helpful to me, but he does not say exactly what the problem is. My car problem: The car just got stuck when I tried to turn, and it will not move, and so i had to turn off the engine. Later on, everything was fine when I restarted the car. Thanks.
What do you mean by the car ‘getting stuck’ turning the corner? It did not stop running by itself, then?
It didn’t move but the engine was still running?
EXACTLY…Remco… I am still choking on that sentence and problem description.
PLEASE HELP SPINLi…we are trying to help you Sir
So the car stops sometimes while cornering but the engine stays running. The alternator and check engine light both come on. You turn the ignition off and turn it back on to make the car go again.
What happens when you give it some gas?
There’s may not be enough chickenblood and virgins on the planet to fix that one…
That’s a weird one.
Sounds to me like this guy’s alternator is not charging the battery properly…Or maybe he needs a new serpentine belt?
Oh by the way…I had a 1999 Chevy Malibu…When my serpentine belt broke every single warning light except the oil pressure light came on. And the car still started but I didn’t drive it because without a serpentine belt, the power steering won’t work and the car will overheat because there’s no belt turning engine’s cooling fans.
Thank you for everyone’s comments, and I am sorry for the confusion again. Basically, the car suddenly stopped when i turned the corner at a main street, and i really don’t remember if the engine was still running or not. i got panick, and put the gear in "P’, and turned the key to “off”. A few minutes later, I turned the key to “on”, and the lights are out, and everything was fine. Thanks.
This sounds like your engine just died while you were cornering. Has this only happened once? Do you notice that the car seems to pull in one direction when you step on the gas and in the other direction when you let off the gas (not braking)?
I ask because this is sometimes noticed when a motor mount breaks. A broken motor mount can also put a strain on wiring when cornering and that can cause the engine to quit suddenly.
Thank you for your comments. It happened only once. Actually, I drove to work and back yesterday, and everything was fine. It’s weird.
Shucks, based on information given, can’t even rule out idle speed control.
We don’t really know whether it stalled or not. Any guess is as good as any other and it would still be a guess.