Ok, so I just bought an AP1 2001 S2000 last night from my boss' cousin. 33k Miles. Fully built motor. Rods, pistons, retainers, pistons, all that jazz. Gt30r turbo, inline pro kit. When I test drove it, everything was fine, exhaust rattled a bit, so either leak or hanger is my guess. The car has been sitting for over eight months, never been started til recently. Old gas (8 months+) 92 octane. I was driving it to get safety check today and I noticed my car battery power is weak. Randomly during driving the digital tachometer will stop working, dash lights dim, and the car starts to backfire and have that popcorn noise. Also very boggy power however turbo spools quicker. If I go too slow, car shuts off, power steering goes out.
Tried jumping the car, will have a rough time when I rev, will still have the backfire/popcorn thing and no powersteering. Dash lights and tach will lose power slowly and then kill over where it doesn't show my rpm at all.
The gas is very old, battery has been sitting for a while, the entire car has been sitting.

Could the problem just be battery has no juice? I put in another battery from a friend's s2k and it took a while to crank but it did. Seemed like it ran quite a bit better too.
Also, could the gas be affecting the car, I added some new 92 octane hoping it would mix.
Also have 720cc injectors, but stock fuel pump. Yet to install 255 walbro.
Is it likely that after I change battery, fuel pump, and gas it should run fine or does this sound more severe then that?
Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks,
Ed.

 

Question: Do you have communications with your Boss's cousin? He should be able to fill you in with how the car ran before he put it up for 8 months.

My hunch is the fuel, added by plugs fouling and then check the battery connections. Usually a weak battery will not cause it the sputter or run rough. The alternator produces the voltage while the engine is running.

 

He bought it from a military guy and hasn't used it since. He hasn't driven it for the 8months he's owned it. He prefers his 800whp civic or construction work truck.
So I should probably just change spark plugs, buy a new battery, drain the fuel. I am really hoping its not the alternator that's the problem.

 

Yeah, start out with what you know. New battery, new plugs, get rid of the old fuel as much as you can and fill with new fuel, install the upgraded fuel pump, and change all the fluids (oil, trans, diff) and reset the ECU afterwards as well. If you are not getting any codes, that hopefully this will remedy the situation.

 

does it have a proper tune? Is it tuned conservatively enough for a stock fuel pump? Have you checked the alternator output and battery voltage?

 

First of all, thank you for all your responses.
Okay so here is where I am at, the other day I put another battery in the car; it ran perfectly fine for almost the whole day until I guess the battery was completely drained and killed over on the freeway. Starts with the power steering, then my dash gauges go out, then the car will just turn itself off.
I've installed the 255 Walbro, and the tune was pretty conservative; even more so with the Walbro.
I have to do my spark plugs next.
I replaced my alternator with a friend's s2000 alternator (same year), it seemed to work great at first, however had to jump start the car because of the dead battery. Then about 2 minutes down the road, same thing again. Could it just be that the battery didn't have enough charge to start with? Or could this be a completely different problem? It's strange because the problem seems electrical as opposed to anything else, my battery terminals seem okay. It's grounded on the negative, not really sure where the positive goes. I seen one wire from the positive go to the Apexi Boost control harness. The other, vanishes into the body im guessing the dash and what not.
I'm running an AEM standalone ecu so I'm not so sure I'd want to reset that.
I've tried a total of three different alternators, all to the same result. Two different batteries. Will check the Alternator fuse in the morning.
If anyone has any idea what could be going on, please help me out.
Thanks.

 

Sounds like theres nothing left to try except to try a new positive battery cable. GL

 

Can anyone tell me where the alternator and radio fuse is located? My friend reversed the cables while jumping my car and I think it blew my radio fuse. And I want to check the alternator fuse if its blown. The alternator does spin though..

 

8 months? sounds like mice got to it. :S

 

Alll of the fuse panels have labels so you should be able to find them pretty easily. If its none of the aforementioned stuff, maybe it has something to do with the standalone?