my own electrical problems

[bdgst14]

I had posted a strand earlier with error codes that I got when I took my '98 Tib FX to the dealer to look at for what seemed to be transmission issues...the mechanic found several codes and advised me that the tranny wasn't worth repairing and I should just ride it out and replace it...upon receiving a second opinion from a family friend who does transmission work, he suggested the problem wasn't the transmission but an electrical issue since he had no problems on the road test with my car until he turned the headlights on...i had a big-ass amp and two 12" subs hooked up directly to the battery--since removing this hook-up the car runs perfect--as long as the headlights aren't on...i'm planning to bring it back to the dealer to have them diagnose my electrical problems, but i was hoping somebody might have some advice to give me.

p.s. my car also has issues with my horn blowing (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't) and my alternator seems to be in good working condition

[tibby01]

you have either a alternator or battery problem. to check if its the alternator, start your car. while the car is running, take off the negative terminal. if the car keeps running fine, your alternator is ok. if it bogs down, you have a bad alt.

[bdgst14]

I took the car to a place that specializes in automotive electric work, only to have to pick it up several days later with no work done on it because they said it had transmission problems. They determined this because of the codes and they said some of my transmission fluid looked burned. I then brought it to an Aamco to reconfirm that there was nothing wrong with the tranny, and they did reconfirm that for me, resetting the codes and making my car drive good in the daytime again. The guy at Aamco told me he suspected there were some major wiring problems, and asked me how much I love my car. I thought it was a good thing that the tranny wasn't the problem--are there electrical problems that could be as costly as the transmisson? He suggested it could be a wire harness and/or the computer--are these expensive to fix, or is it just because of the labor prices since wiring problems often take long to figure out?

[curbie]

If you removed the amp and subs from the battery and your car runs fine....then I'd say someone or maybe it was you....but whoever wired up your amp and subs...did it wrong. Just my worth....Who hooked up your stereo system and could you please explain to us how it is hooked up. I know some people just don't know how to hook up stereo stuff and they just mess the wires...if you catch my drift.