Electrical Issue

[RUSH2112]

I have an electircal problem. Rob (Wick) will chime in here as he has seen the problem first hand. Just want some opinions about what the issue might be. Rob is leaning towards the starter relay.

Basically the car will start fine most of the time, but sometimes after sitting for a day I try to turn it over and it clicks and I lose ALL power, completely dead. Rob did put a meter on the battery and I am losing power to the rest of the car.

Rob - add you input here, as I am sure I am not describing it accurately.

Thanks in advance for any troubleshooting help.

[J-rod]

its an obvious one...but check the alt yet?

i would also lean to a bad starter connection...

[RUSH2112]

Gonna check the starter connection tonight.

Isn't the alternator to just charge the battery while the car is running and has nothing to do with starting the car? I could be wrong

[J-rod]

Gonna check the starter connection tpnight.

Isn't the alternator to just charge the batter while the car is running and has nothing to do with starting the car? I could be wrong

yea you are right....its just i havent heard good things about the fox alts

[RUSH2112]

It is the original alternator, so it might be flaky. It will probably be the next thing to replace.

[coralcoupe1993]

It is the original alternator, so it might be flaky. It will probably be the next thing to replace.

I have a new one from my 93 you can have for $30. Aside from that, it wouldnt be draining your power. Do you have an old alarm or anything like that? Is the glove box light, trunk, or hood light staying on?

[RUSH2112]

I have a new one from my 93 you can have for $30. Aside from that, it wouldnt be draining your power. Do you have an old alarm or anything like that? Is the glove box light, trunk, or hood light staying on?

I'll let you know about the alternator.

The hood light has never worked. Don't know if its the wire or the bulb. I'll check the other lights but I am fairly certain that I lose ALL power to everything on the car

[J-rod]

I have a new one from my 93 you can have for $30. Aside from that, it wouldnt be draining your power. Do you have an old alarm or anything like that? Is the glove box light, trunk, or hood light staying on?

well sorry to hijack rush but this brings me to a couple good questions of my own.

1. is there anyway to replace the dome light? the fuse that would controll it is fine cuz everything else works. but i have no dome light, and my shiity repair book doesnt say how to do it? do you just pull like hell? im sure there is a bulb you can replace in it.

2. the light inside my ash tray panel. the ash tray lid is broken (go figure) off my fox so there is a little light on in there. is that draining my alt/battery power? like is there a switch in there like a refridgerator that the light is on when door is open? or what?


rush if ya want me to delete this and make my own thread lmk and i will....just figured since we all talking electrical problems here.

[RUSH2112]

well sorry to hijack rush but this brings me to a couple good questions of my own.

1. is there anyway to replace the dome light? the fuse that would controll it is fine cuz everything else works. but i have no dome light, and my shiity repair book doesnt say how to do it? do you just pull like hell? im sure there is a bulb you can replace in it.

2. the light inside my ash tray panel. the ash tray lid is broken (go figure) off my fox so there is a little light on in there. is that draining my alt/battery power? like is there a switch in there like a refridgerator that the light is on when door is open? or what?


rush if ya want me to delete this and make my own thread lmk and i will....just figured since we all talking electrical problems here.

No problem Jared, I share my toys....

As far as the dome light, I can't answer that. Convertibles don't have them. My "dome lights" are actually lights on the rear view mirror, that really don't do squat as far as lighting

The ash tray light I have also. My ash tray door (THAT WORKS) is always closed so I don't pay any attention to it.

[madmaxin22]

i used to have the same problem don... once a month or so at a random time i would turn the key, have full power go to start it and it would click once and everything would go out. no lights, door chime, nothing.... i would usually cycle the key a few times, wait a minute and it would start right up.... hasnt done it since i put new battery cables on about a year and a half ago......

[Sonic03snake]

Sounds like a good chance of a bad battery cable or coroded(SP?) ground somewhere.

[RUSH2112]

i used to have the same problem don... once a month or so at a random time i would turn the key, have full power go to start it and it would click once and everything would go out. no lights, door chime, nothing.... i would usually cycle the key a few times, wait a minute and it would start right up.... hasnt done it since i put new battery cables on about a year and a half ago......

Thanks for the tip. Strange thing is this just started happening since I had the intakes and valve covers installed. It happened once while then. Since then it happened once while Rob (Wick) was replacing my water pump. Both times should have nothing to do with electrical, although the negative cable was unplugged for the intake installs, but the water pump install did not have the cables removed.

I asked Rob if he thought I should get new battery cables and he seems to feel that they are not the issue.

Something really screwy and probably really simple going on.

[RUSH2112]

Sounds like a good chance of a bad battery cable or coroded(SP?) ground somewhere.

Battery cables are not corroded. I had them both off last night and checked them. Ill have to trace some wires to see if it is a possible grounding issue. keep those ideas coming guys. It is great help.

[wick]

The way its acting is like the connection is just eliminated. I put my multi meter across the battery and had 12.?? volts. Went from the positive to ground and had nothing, zero. This is why I was thinking the realy. Took the negative off to clean it and re-install. When you put the cable back on it usually gives a small spark when something is on or just to chargs the electrical system. Well, that never happened. Went to check again with the multi meter and had voltage. Smacked the top of the negative to get it on the battery better and tighten it up and it had power. The only thing I can think of is the starter relay is intermitintly shorting out and causing no power situation. I remember pulling on all the cables and nothing. If there was a positive ground somewhere the cables would be hot from the amperage going through them. This is just an all of a sudden loss of power without any warning then it returns.

[White5.0]

does it not start sometimes and start others?....or does it go dead then you have to charge the battery to get it started again?

i had a problem with mine a little while ago where i had good battery, battery cables and good alt and it turned out to be a fuseable link that needed replaced. so maybe check your fuseable links. also, maybe the starter relay is the problem?? you should get a new one for the heck of it i dont think they are much money.

[383taman]

Sound to me like the ignition switch no not the key part but the switch on the column. Ford had a recall on them for the 88s not sure what other years.