What's with my car's windows, AC, and power steering? (read more details)?

(2010-05-30 13:39:31)

1. All Professional Failure Says: I'm having a really weird issue with power in my car. When I turn it on, my windows won't roll down, my AC won't come on, and my power steering doesn't feel like it's working.

The crazy thing is, if I drive it for about 15-20 minutes, and then turn it off and on, everything works fine. I'm guessing it's a power issue. I took the clamps off the battery, cleaned them, and tightened them all up, but I'm not sure if I fixed anything.

My terminals may be a little wonky. Both terminals have an arrow with rivets that I lie a cable into and then tighten it down. The red terminal has three cables in it and the the black one has 1 cable. The three cables are black with copper wires coming out, red with copper wires coming out, and then another one that hugs the screw. I tried putting the black one with the copper wires on the black terminal, but then my car didn't start.

2. mycoldfeet Says: Your problem sounds more mechanical than electrical, as some problems has nothing in common with the others with the exception of one thing, the belt, if this is not tight or worn, the A/C will not turn fast enough to work, the power steering won't work right, and the alternator will not be charging, so the windows are trying to move just on battery power, UNTIL the belt heats up and starts grabbing the pulleys and things start working as advertised, get a new belt, and ck your tensioner.

3. Bob Says: sounds like a bad battery or a bad alternator

4. James Says: if you have another car or boat or ride on lawnmower i would try taking the battery out of that and try it for you car and if it works then it is probably your battery.