North American Turbocoupe Organization



electrical nightmare!!!!!!
BlackTurboBird Offline
Banned
#1
its like my battery is dying but only when im driving the car..the radio starts cutting out and then everything starts getting dim..then kahhpoooeeee she stalls..i'l try to start her back up but its like the battery is dead..i went out the next day and she started right up.. without a jump!!!..she did this about 5 months ago too but it just went away.......................i put my voltage tester to the battery at idle before the test drive and after the test drive when she stalled..the voltage was still the same..i dont know if im using it rite but she read 10 volts before and after......does this make any sense....i was going to sell her for $3000 but now this happens...she's in great shape too its ashame cause if i dont fix this or sell it for $3000 by Dec,1st im parting her out then crushing whats left...keep your eyes on the parts for sale section soon
Reply

Joe F Offline
Posting Freak
#2
You need to test your battery under load, and verify that it's good. You also need to get your alternator tested. If both are good take a real hard look at your battery cables - both positive and negative. Finally check the cable that runs from the starter solenoid to the starter; I doubt it's a problem but might as well check everything.

A high-impedance DMM is not what you're going to want to test the cables with, you need to actually test them under load somehow and measure the voltage drop across them.

Good luck; don't part out your bird for a simple electrical problem.

Edit: spelling
JR's Place - My '87 Turbocoupe
Reply

BlackTurboBird Offline
Banned
#3
shes got a brand new battery and alt theres nothing else wrong with this car....its heartbreaking that just a burnt wire or fusable link could cause this beauty to get parted then crushed......i know crushing it is mean but i put so much time and money into this car and she treated me great but im not going to sell this car for $1500 and then find out from the new owner it was just a fusable link or somthing stupid..ide make more money parting her out........its like your girlfriend starts acting wierd and the next thing you know shes f@cking the nabor..would you rather see her happy with the nabor or ripp her to pieces with your bare hands!!!im loosing my mind!!!
Reply

Joe F Offline
Posting Freak
#4
Quote:Originally posted by BlackTurboBird:
...its heartbreaking that just a burnt wire or fusable link could cause this beauty to get parted then crushed...
Then FIX it!

Ultimately it's your car, you can do what you will with it. If it was me I'd get out the books and find the problem, or, if you're not good at electrical troubleshooting, try to find someone local who is and is willing to help you.

BTW, I've seen both batteries and alternators bad out of the box, but I'd concentrate on wiring issues if I were you.
JR's Place - My '87 Turbocoupe
Reply

Jeff K Offline
Administrator
#5
What Joe said.... this doesnt sound like that hard of a problem to solve, ,and, IMO, it sure isnt worth junking the car over.
Jeff Korn

88 Turbo Coupe: Intake and exhaust mods, T3 turbo at 24 psi, forced air IC, water injection, BPV, Ranger cam, subframes, etc., etc.
86 Tbird 5.0 (original owner): intake, exhaust, valvetrain mods, 100 HP N2O, ignition, gears, suspension, etc., etc.
11 Crown Vic Interceptor
14 Toyota Camry (wifes car)
95 Taurus GL Vulcan winter beater
67 Honda 450 Super Sport - completely customized
Reply

Pete D Offline
Administrator
#6
Quote:its heartbreaking that just a burnt wire or fusable link could cause this beauty to get parted then crushed.
Then get off your pity party and fix it, correctly and don't try to lay a guilt trip on us. This is the 3rd time you have posted on this issue and all you have asked is "can I run a charging wire straight to the battery terminal" or some other way to "rig" it.(your term). We have told you the most likely problem and that it needs to be diagnosed and fixed correctly. It's obvious that you car has a lot of mods. Why are you trying to "rig" a problem that could lead to the car burning up, because that is exactly what could happen. Either the alt isn't working or current is being drawn off (potentially) because of defective wiring which spells FIRE.

http://natomessageboard.com/ultimatebb.p...1;t=019852
http://natomessageboard.com/ultimatebb.p...1;t=019860

If you need help with the troubleshooting, then ask. There are people here that can & will help. There might even be somebody in your area that could help.
But whining and trying to lay it off on somebody or something else isn't going to get it fixed. What's really heart breaking is how your handling it.
Pete Dunham


Reply

BlackTurboBird Offline
Banned
#7
sorry Pete D, no guilt trip intended.im just stressing the seriousness of this problem..yes i WILL part her out if thats what it takes to get my money back...the wires from the alt disappear into the harness..ive checked everything except for inside the harness wich takes alot of time to follow considering I have to take out everything around the harness all the way down..i dont want to spend all weekend looking for somthing thats probely not there..it will fustrate me more..my goal..not rig..fix..that was just a term i used..Pete can you explain to me in more detail how to handle this situation so i dont upset you
Reply

Pete D Offline
Administrator
#8
I know electrical stuff is frustrating, especially for me because I don't know how to do it well.
But it can be done by going one step at a time.

I sent you the charging distribution system schematics. With these, one the electrical people here can talk you through it or someone in your area that understands electric troubleshooting and can help, using those diagrams.

I would do what Joe suggested and have the new alternator tested first because it is cheap and easy to do. You take it off, take it to a parts store that can test an alt. If it's bad, that may or may not be your whole problem, but at least you know it's condition.

Your probably going to have to check into some of the wiring and there are people here that can help. This is the point where I, personally, would be asking for help.

Like Joe said, it's your car, do what you want. Have you given any thought to how much time it takes to take a car apart, find buyers, package and ship all those parts? But you don't want to maybe spend a few hours to try to solve a problem?
I've parted one of these and I'm sure that if I were in your situation, I could solve the problem quicker than I could part out the car.
Pete Dunham


Reply

Pete D Offline
Administrator
#9
You might also want to look at this:
http://natomessageboard.com/ultimatebb.p...p=1#000001
Pete Dunham


Reply

Martin Offline
Senior Member
#10
The alternator wirng is not hard to trace out! But like everyone has already posted, battery and alternator tests first. The battery, even new can be a bad one. Batterys get a "surface Charge" which quickly just means that when you check them with a tester they will read good, but when you hit them with a load, they go flat. If this is the case, the alternator sensing the the battery has good voltage, will not charge. Your issue sounds somewhat different however. I do not have my schematics available for the wiring as I am off on a job site, and wil not be home until Xmas. One thing to remeber, our cars realy do notdraw much power from the alternator if there are not many accesories in use. IE, no lights etc, means only the ignition and fuel pump are drawing current, and very little, so a battery can last a good long time, how long, well I drove my car with a failed alternator for 5 hours, then when it died, I let it sit overnight in a parking lot, and the next morning, the battery had recovered enough to start and drive it to a shop!
You do not have to open the loom very far to find the first place to check. The two big output wires from the alternator only go into the loom a very short distance before they are spliced into one larger one. That splice could be prone to failure, and perhaps one of those 2 wires at the splice has brken off, in effect giving you half an alternator!
Can anyone add from there schematics were the alt wire runs to for the terminal connection from there. I am not cetain if it is to the starter solenoid battery side or where. Give me the connection points and I can assist in how to test the sections witout pulling it all apart!
Martin
Stock 87, no mods, Black with the grey interior.
Boost High, Fly Low
Reply





Users browsing this thread:
1 Guest(s)



Theme © iAndrew 2018 - Software MyBB