Dying After I turn on the Headlights!!!

[DrFestiva88]

Alright, the B3 starts up and idles fine. However, it dies after about 2 minutes of turning on any accessory (dome light, headlights, anything). Also, it dies right away if I turn the A/C on. Revving keeps her alive, but she's stating to die at stop lights (unless it's the day and all of the accessories are off).

Alternator and battery have been checked and are fine. PCV was gummed up and I changed it out, didn't help much.

Common to the festiva world? THANKS GUYS!

[crazyrog17]

Idle air control valve? It lives on the intake near the brake booster. A two wire electrical connector, two large air hoses and two small coolant hoses connect to it.

[blkfordsedan]

I would check/replace the battery cables as well, both POS+ and GND-.
Sometimes they look fine but have internal corrosion. It can make it do funny and strange things.

[DrFestiva88]

I have some new battery cables I can pop on (thanks for the advice blkfordsedan), but to be completely honest....I was thinking idle control valve as well crazyrog17. Everything looks fine on it, replace it all??

[sc72]

The IAC can be getting pluged up and need cleaned, or pull the Black plug off the top of the IAC and adjust with screw driver, this will change the idle. If there is anything you don't understand or need more help, just give a shout and good luck.

[fastivaB6TG25MR]

does it start back up fine?

[DrFestiva88]

Thank you sc72! Will do!

Fastiva - needs a little but of gas pumping to get her going again, but it goes back into idle faster.

[Flyin4stroke]

Turn the idle screw up a tad

[blkfordsedan]

Well, if yours is an '88 with a carb, that should eliminate the IAC. Turning on the dome light or even the radio should not put enough load on the alternator/battery for the engine to even notice. It sounds electrical to me. I would also check/replace all the fuses.

[crazyrog17]

Long legged cartridge fuses replace the stock fusible links easily. Located on the drivers side shock tower, they can appear fine but be corroded or burnt out inside. 30-40-30 amp free at PnP junkyards

[DrFestiva88]

I have a 90 LX, but I'll be throwing a few of these suggestions at the wall and seeing if anything sticks! Thank you guys!

[drddan]

Alternator and battery have been checked and are fine.

Was the alt checked under load?
I had the same problem with my old alt, it checked good too, but when I put in a NEW alt, the lights no longer dimmed, and idle remained fine.
I'd re-visit the alt