Hello,

I have a low mileage LW1 and love this car. Unfortunately, a rodent chewed off the voltage regulator wires ( 18g Red and Grey ) causing the battery light to be thrown. Before this happened the car was a trouble free daily driver.

With wires repaired, the system is still not functioning. And my fear is that the damage is deeper than expected. I need to sort this out soon.

PROBLEM : Electrical system is at 11.75 volts, throwing code PO622

ACTIONS :

Toned repaired wires -- Passed
Checked entire system for shorts -- Passed
Cleared codes with OBD -- Passed but code returns
Checked battery with multi-meter -- passed
Brand new alternator/voltage regulator
Flashed ECM using 2 methods

I do not know where to go from here. Any help would be greatly appreciated, want my Saturn back on the road ASAP.

Going to copy and paste post to general tech, looks like it should be there instead.

 

Your battery probably got discharged and just needs recharging. Take it to your closest, friendly auto parts store and ask them to charge it and load test it for you. Did you solder the wires back together and use heat shrink to seal them with? After the heat shrink, electrical tape over the solder joints is also not a bad idea. If it was good before the wire chewing and you did the repair properly, then the battery is the next logical choice. Take it one step at a time. You need around 12.4 volts in the battery to crank the car. After it's running, you can check the output of the alternator at the battery. It should be 14 volts or higher. Under 14 is weak.

 

Topping battery good idea, it is at 50%. I only have a 1 amp mcycle charger so this will take some time.

As for the wire repair, they are butt-spliced and shrink tubed. Personally I do not like soldering, and have found that on mcycles the method I have used works better.

Will try to post results of full battery ASAP.

 

That's cool. I'm more old school and want to make sure my connection is NOT going to come loose.

 

never a fan of butt splices. Proper soldering technique AND MATERIALS are just as important as what you're soldering together. 95% of people don't bother with flux, making it much more difficult to get a solid connection that will conduct electricity for years to come.

People using solder joints to support weight tends not to work out well either.

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WHAT EXACTLY is not functioning? You did nit specifically state anything in your post.

Cranks won't fire
Cranks, fires, won't start
Cranks fires starts stalls
Nothing but a click at key to crank

Not sure why you are trying to start car with a battery that is below normal voltage at rest, knowing it is 50% discharged on top of that.

How many leads does the V Reg have, and what are they for?

Definitely, pull the battery and have it load tested per Rube. You can prob beg a charge off the autozone guys.......

And please do NOT post duplicate posts in different sections of the forum. Causes nothing but confusion.
I deleted the others

 

https://www.flickr.com/gp/152389301@N02/L3YTxT
I am trying flickr since Photobucket seems to have lost their minds.

 

Hey Andy, if flickr doesn't suit your needs, try imgur.com. That's what I use and it's FREE! Guys on another forum I'm on are raising hell about Photobucket and after reading about what they're doing, I can't blame them.