The bird is grounded

on the way back from out of town I noticed all the gauges (oil pressure, temp, and fuel) were all bottomed like it was off, and the climate control was off as well. I at first panicked but then thought since it seemed to be running fine that it must be a fuse blown, so we continued then a few minutes later I noticed the ABS light and brake light came on, the brakes felt fine so again I thought it was a fuse related thing. so we got home thank god because after I was going out to get some fuses, the brakes were stiff. the last time this happened about a year ago, it had the same stiffness in the brakes but none of dial symptoms. then not more then three months ago I had to have the drums replaced.


this brake thing is really starting to bug me and now I amnot sure what to do. on an Ironic note, I had just donated my other car to charity becuase I did not drive for I love the bird so much...so much indeed that I plan to make it into a dail driver/showcar in the next five years

anyhow, anybody had a simialr problem, or any ideas on it

Originally posted by zoopc:
on the way back from out of town I noticed all the gauges (oil pressure, temp, and fuel) were all bottomed like it was off, and the climate control was off as well. I at first panicked but then thought since it seemed to be running fine that it must be a fuse blown, so we continued then a few minutes later I noticed the ABS light and brake light came on, the brakes felt fine so again I thought it was a fuse related thing. so we got home thank god because after I was going out to get some fuses, the brakes were stiff. the last time this happened about a year ago, it had the same stiffness in the brakes but none of dial symptoms. then not more then three months ago I had to have the drums replaced.


this brake thing is really starting to bug me and now I amnot sure what to do. on an Ironic note, I had just donated my other car to charity becuase I did not drive for I love the bird so much...so much indeed that I plan to make it into a dail driver/showcar in the next five years

anyhow, anybody had a simialr problem, or any ideas on it

The same thing happend to me when my alternator decided to go south.... Most parts store can test it for you..

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1987 TC 5 Speed
K&N Cone mounted on the VAM, soon to be front mounted, Disconnectd BCS

Originally posted by zoopc:
on the way back from out of town I noticed all the gauges (oil pressure, temp, and fuel) were all bottomed like it was off, and the climate control was off as well. I at first panicked but then thought since it seemed to be running fine that it must be a fuse blown, so we continued then a few minutes later I noticed the ABS light and brake light came on, the brakes felt fine so again I thought it was a fuse related thing. so we got home thank god because after I was going out to get some fuses, the brakes were stiff. the last time this happened about a year ago, it had the same stiffness in the brakes but none of dial symptoms. then not more then three months ago I had to have the drums replaced.


this brake thing is really starting to bug me and now I amnot sure what to do. on an Ironic note, I had just donated my other car to charity becuase I did not drive for I love the bird so much...so much indeed that I plan to make it into a dail driver/showcar in the next five years

anyhow, anybody had a simialr problem, or any ideas on it

Check your battery cables first,and for water/oil under battery my 87 died and this was the problem.Hope this helps.



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1987&1988 Turbo T-Birds

[QUOTE]Originally posted by zoopc:
[B]on the way back from out of town I noticed all the gauges (oil pressure, temp, and fuel) were all bottomed like it was off, and the climate control was off as well.

If the car died and won't restart, then I'm pretty sure I know this one, happened to me twice in the past year. What happened with mine... I was riding along and for some reason the radio cut off and on a few times, then I noticed all the gauges were starting to drop down to the bottom, and the ABS light began to glow dimly. Few minutes later the car started running really bad, loosing power than bucking until I had to push the clutch in and coast to a stop. After looking things over, I found the large gauge single wire from the alternator was burnt and had melted off the ring terminal where it attaches to the alternator. Spliced in new wire, recharged battery, had alternator benched test (tested perfect), car started right up and ran fine. Almost a year later, the same damn thing happened to me, this time with a slight twist. It died the same way, but this time the wire did not melt. I inspected everything, but nothing. Sat on the side of the road for 20-30 mins, looking at everything trying to figure out what happened this time. Well, after all that time I decide to try starting it one more time before I called a rollback, and much to my surprise, it started, I slamed the hood and was gone, but only for 10 mins, then it died all over again. This time, when I moved the single wire from the alt., I found is was melted off from the terminal (was hidden under the rubber boot cover, but didn't melt the wire casing this time. What happened just before, was it got so hot it melted it off, then while I was sitting there for 20-30 mins, it fused itself back to the ring terminal while cooling. Why it started after killing the battery was, most good batteries are capable of recovering from a quick kill, but you only get one shot at restart. I have a 1000 CCA Autocraft batter that has some reserve so I was fortunate. The second time however the battery never had time to build back up so I had to get a jump start after repairing the wire and ring terminal. )BTW, the 5 spd 88TC's are easy to push start too). Anyway, it ran great for a week afterwards until I redid it with a new wire and ring terminal. Now I carry a spare of each, plus tools to fix just in case.

Now the reason for this problem. From talking with my alternator shop buddy, he claims this is a fairly common problem especially with the Fords. The problem is caused by slight corrosion build-up where the ring terminal connects to the wire, or from just one single strand being damaged during crimping. The wire and terminal are just about at their maximum capacity as is, but with a slight amount of corrosion or a strand or two that is damaged, over time with the high current output through it, the wire starts to weaken, then will overheat and melt.

You should have your alternator bench tested under load for a few minutes just to be certain you do not have an internal voltage regulator problem. The alt shop said, alot of people get taken to the cleaners by small garages because they see this problem, and will tell the customer(s) the alternator is bad and needs replacing (thinking the regulator went up), when all along it's only the wire and terminal.

When checking for this problem, be certain you chase the wire back to the fusible links that are underneath the battery tray. Like I said, of the two times this has happened to me, both have been at or near the alternator, but the alt shop said once in awhile it will burn the fusible link.

The brake issue may be directly related to the loss in current not allowing the system to pressurize correctly. Don't know for sure though, I didn't have the brake problems.

Oh the reason all the gauges drop, abs light glows dimly, radio kicks off and/or back on, is the car is running strictly off the battery, of which is not getting current back from the alternator to charge the battery. The EEC (computer) needs a minimum of like 10 volts to function (not necessarily properly), at this range and below the computer is starting to malfunction, thus not allowing it to process sensor info, or adjust fuel mix, timing and whatnot accordingly. Once the current drops below this, the EEC basically shuts down.