jrhgolf23 Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 (edited) Soo the other day, i came to a stop sign by my house and my car just straight up died and wouldnt turn over. It acted like the battery was completely drained, but it wasnt. My gauge cluster and clock still worked, but my radio didnt. After about 3 minutes of sitting there, all the power turned back on, and the car started right up. As i was driving it home (i was a block away fdrom my house when it died thankfully) it bucked and kicked real hard like it wanted to die again, and as i puilled into my drvieway, it died again. Soo right now as it sits, when i turn it over, absolutely nothing happens. Im completely stumped. Anyone have any ideas as to where i should even start to look?If it helps, i have an aftrermarket deck with kindof poopy wiring. there is a red and a black wire that comes from another wire in the back of my deck that runs throguh my door jam and the red wire connects straight to my battery. im gunna attach a fitting to the end of that today because its just bare wire wrapped around the screw on the terminal all half tail like to see if maybe that helps, but thats just a shot in the dark. so idk.Any help is greatly appreciated. Edited June 7, 2011 by jrhgolf23 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Rabbit1 Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 Soo the other day, i came to a stop sign by my house and my car just straight up died and wouldnt turn over. It acted like the battery was completely drained, but it wasnt. My gauge cluster and clock still worked, but my radio didnt. After about 3 minutes of sitting there, all the power turned back on, and the car started right up. As i was driving it home (i was a block away fdrom my house when it died thankfully) it bucked and kicked real hard like it wanted to die again, and as i puilled into my drvieway, it died again. Soo right now as it sits, when i turn it over, absolutely nothing happens. Im completely stumped. Anyone have any ideas as to where i should even start to look?If it helps, i have an aftrermarket deck with kindof poopy wiring. there is a red and a black wire that comes from another wire in the back of my deck that runs throguh my door jam and the red wire connects straight to my battery. im gunna attach a fitting to the end of that today because its just bare wire wrapped around the screw on the terminal all half tail like to see if maybe that helps, but thats just a shot in the dark. so idk.Any help is greatly appreciated.what exactly did it do? did the starter kick in and was sluggish? or did it not do anything? need more details Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrhgolf23 Posted June 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 idk what it did. it died completely. when i went to turn it over, there was nothing. let it sit for a minute, all the elictricals just turned bak on and i turned it voer and it started. when i was driving it home, it acted like it wanted to die really bad. then it died when i puilled in the driveway. Like right now, if i turn the key to on, the radio doesnt turn on, the seatbelts dont move, nothing. but my door ajar light on the dash works, my door lights work, and my clock works. idk if that helps or not, but thats what its doing.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allen405 Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 it almost sounds like a major short, like when a wire is making contact with something it's not supposed to. Did this start happening after a radio install? Just trying to get more info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Rabbit1 Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 sounds like you need to clean your battery terminals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrhgolf23 Posted June 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 i was thinking its a really bad short too. but the radio was on the car when i got it. never any problems untill now. ill clean the terminals today and redo the butt connectors where the wires from the radio are. theyre looking a little tatterd so idk. ill post up some more info when i start working on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfighterpilot Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 i was thinking its a really bad short too. but the radio was on the car when i got it. never any problems untill now. ill clean the terminals today and redo the butt connectors where the wires from the radio are. theyre looking a little tatterd so idk. ill post up some more info when i start working on it. What does your battery voltage read, using a multimeter, at the terminals when the car goes molehills up electrically? We need to know this piece of info before we can give a resolution to your problem. Otherwise it's just shooting in the dark. For What it's Worth. KEN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funsockstv Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 Do Yourself a favor, mine did the very same, all i had was the door and trunk light on the dash working, turned out one of my fusiable links was corroded, did not even look like metal anymore just awful, it was my ign, alot of wiring goes through that ig so check all off your links first, this was one of my easy fixes, HUGE PROB Easy fix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87TsiOwner Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 Check you ground cable the goes from the battery to the block. I had mine do the same thing and the ground cable was corroded at the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrhgolf23 Posted June 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 (edited) damnit. i gotta go buy a multimeter now. what do you mean by "molehills up electrically"? Edited June 7, 2011 by jrhgolf23 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfighterpilot Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 damnit. i gotta go buy a multimeter now. what do you mean by "molehills up electrically"? The multimeters are relatively cheap - suggestion - get a analog and a digital multimeter about $15.00 each cuz they are used for different ACCURATE measurents of the Starquests. "Molehills" id's what SQC did to my statement of "not conforming to spec." in reference to below spec USING A WOMANS CHEST ANATOMY nipples laying down aroused as a acromynm. You moderators have got to get your heads on straight. To get back to the subject at hand, we need to know what the battery voltage is, when other things go dead electrically, in order to isolate your electrical problem. For What It's Worth. KEN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMNDSTAR87 Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 even if someone hacked in an aftermarket stereo i dont see that causing the trouble your having unless maybe they spliced ignition directly to get 12v switched power or the stereo system is something drawing crazy amps.im with starfighter in that more info is needed to be diagnosed properly.get a multimeter.invest in a nice one that can read to the tenth of an amp if u plan on keeping your ride cause you will need it.gig out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim_C. Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 A good shot in the dark would be the fuse links. Remove them physically to see if they are crispy crittered. but yes, you really need to start with what Ken and others have said before the system goes woman's breast up again. LoL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrhgolf23 Posted June 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 (edited) hahah well thats one of the more random references ive ever heard. lol. but makes sense.yeah im gunna go pick up a good mulitmeter when my dad gets home.idk if this helps, but the wires for the stereo are under the kick panel under the steering column. i can see them if i take the fuse cover off. theres a big grey wire with a black wire coming out of it that are connected togehter by twisting the metal parts together. there is a red wire connected the same way from those that runs all the way out my door, under the drivers side fender, and goes directly to the battery terminal. There is a black wire that runs right next to the red on that im assuming is the ground wire.the red wire was just looped around one of the prongs on the battery connector. So i put one of those circle things on it that makes it a more solid connection. When i did that, everything worked for about 2 seconds, then it died again. sorry for the rough explanation, but its all i can do. lol Edited June 7, 2011 by jrhgolf23 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Rabbit1 Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 Go twist the battery terminals off and check for corrosion. Your nuking a simple loss of ground. Start at the battery and work your way back. If you haven't cleaned and serviced all your connections like you should have you will find that you just need to perform some maintenance instead of fixing the one short just clean them all so it won't happen again. My money says the problem is in the same corner of the car as the battery. Read up: My link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelby Posted June 8, 2011 Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 sounds like a couple fuse links went bad so some one did a quick fix by runing wires,, get that crap out of there and fix it right,,, every part of the cars electrical system goes thru a FUSEABLE LINK also there are two major power wires that feed the fuse link holder,,clean those up also and another one to the alt main fuse link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrhgolf23 Posted June 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 (edited) ok so with the multimeter set on ohms, i get a reading of 0.00 at the terminals. when i first read it, i got a reading of 10.0 for a second, then it went to zero. What does this mean? My battery cant be dead. I mean the battery wouldnt just die all of a suidden ya know. Anyone have any ideas? Edited June 8, 2011 by jrhgolf23 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfighterpilot Posted June 8, 2011 Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 ok so with the multimeter set on ohms, i get a reading of 0.00 at the terminals. when i first read it, i got a reading of 10.0 for a second, then it went to zero. What does this mean? My battery cant be dead. I mean the battery wouldnt just die all of a suidden ya know. Anyone have any ideas? You have to measure DC volts across the battery terminals to determine it's state of charge. Use the DCV 20 setting on the multimeter and read the multimeter operating instructions. For What It's Worth. KEN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrhgolf23 Posted June 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 ohh. lol. my bad. volts are 12.5 at the battery terminals. now what?Im assuming that means there is a short somewhere. i just cant find it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Rabbit1 Posted June 8, 2011 Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 did you check the terminals? are they green? are they white? telling us one answer at a time is taking forever.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrhgolf23 Posted June 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 terminals are fine. no discoloration, no corosion. nothing. im just stumped because it just straight up died on me. like out of the blue. idk. Lance_S is coming over tomorow to check it out. soo we will see what he says, hopefully i can just take a look at his setup and see if mine a jank or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance_S Posted June 9, 2011 Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 Well keep the ideas coming because an electrician I am not. My plan is simple. We start with the battery and work our way back. Terminals, wires, grounds, contacts,fuseable link (that's my guess), alternator wiring, chassis ground (big three), etc. If the car went straight dead the problem has to be closer to the battery than farther away from it. We will have mine to double check against. I am sure we will find it. Again fuseable link or bad ground is my guess. But I do wait until I actually see it. Hope its not a rats nest! :-). Jk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrhgolf23 Posted June 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 turns out it was the fuseable links. thanks again Lance for beig such a cool dude, helping me with my stuff, and letting me drive your car. that was awsome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance_S Posted June 9, 2011 Report Share Posted June 9, 2011 Anytime Jordan, Glad I could help. Try and get out to see the Powertour. I saw a few hundred on the way back to GH, crazy cool cars and lots of them. Don't forget, before you mod anything, pic up a rebuild kit for your 12a. That's where the smoke is coming from. I believe you can pick them up off ebay. If not, I am sure someone will chime in on where to get one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carguygibby Posted July 14, 2011 Report Share Posted July 14, 2011 The very same thing happened to my car a couple of days ago. My '86 ran all the way to PF and back (500 miles) without a hitch and then sat for over a week.I decided to take it to work for a change from the 300M. I got about a mile then turned onto the on ramp for the highway when it died completely except for the courtesy lights and key in ignition warning buzzer. I checked the fusible links which looked fine but after I let it sit for a minute I wiggled the harness at the links and the car sprang back to life. I am in the middle of swapping in a better fuse/relay box plus all new fusible links. I would also like to replace/upgrade the wiring to the alternator and main fusible link (I have a GM alternator), has anyone done this? One last thing, can I remove all that ammeter wiring tucked up in there or does it serve some other purpose?Thanks,Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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