bad electrons October 01, 2008, 12:40:19 PM 1986 Tbird 3.8.The origonal problem was the car would not start, it would crank however. I found the ignition switch was falling apart. After I replaced that I discovered that the brake lights would only momentarily lite. This may have been a problem right along. I don't know.I replaced the brake light switch and all was well. Two days later the car won't start.The voltage at the battery read 15 with the engine off or on. I swapped batteries with one from the other fox. Same thing.I changed the voltage regulator. No change. I swapped the starter relay (solenoid), same thing. Even though the starter relay tested bad. Still tests bad.The situation now is that the car starts as long as I attach jumper cables. All the electrical is slow. The windows operate slow, the emergency flashers operate slow, the turn signals don't work at all. The headlights and tail lights are bright engine on or off. All systems that should work with the ignition on or in accesory position work as designed except for the turn signals and the slow everything else. After work I'll disconnect the alternator to see if the engine will start with it eliminated from the system.This is very wierd. I don't remember if I have a spare alternator but something is drawing power out of the start circuit. During attempted cranking there's over 13 volts to the starter even though all the relay will do is click. All fuses are good including the turn signal fuse which is separate from the emergency flasher fuse.Any comments? Quote Selected
bad electrons Reply #2 – October 01, 2008, 05:24:54 PM Quote from: Chuck W;237969How old are the cables?One year on the negative, two days on the positive. Quote Selected
bad electrons Reply #3 – October 01, 2008, 06:16:51 PM Did you clean your battery posts? When you replaced your cables, did you replace your clamps? Do you see any corrosion? If not try doing these things, I had a simular problem, fixed now. Quote Selected
bad electrons Reply #4 – October 01, 2008, 06:37:30 PM Quote from: SR71TC;238011Did you clean your battery posts? When you replaced your cables, did you replace your clamps? Do you see any corrosion? If not try doing these things, I had a simular problem, fixed now.You know what? It can't hurt to do it again. I'll be on it in an hour. If I don't fix it it may give up parts and be retired to the big Tbird heaven. I'm that frustrated with it. I've always been able to fix things very effectively. This one is working towards defeating me. Quote Selected
bad electrons Reply #5 – October 02, 2008, 01:52:21 AM Something fishy with your meter here. If it is buttstuffog maybe the adjusting screw over the pivot point of the needle has been moved.Measure the battery in another vehicle that has not been running for an hour. It can't be higher than 12.6 volts.If we can trust your meter and there is no change between not running and running, your alternator has no output.Do you hook the jumper cables to the battery terminals or do you hook the negative to the engine block, thus bypassing the negative battery cable?The starter relay should only click once when trying to start. If it keeps on clicking, it means the the load of the starter motor is dragging the voltage down to where the relay drops out. When it drops out the load is gone so it repicks etc.Where exactly did you put both meter leads when checking the starter voltage? Quote Selected
bad electrons Reply #6 – October 02, 2008, 09:16:51 AM softtouch,You hit the nail on the head. With ChuckW and SR71TC's advice I went back and checked my work. Indeed the meter is broken. Not maladjusted. No matter what I do it reads 15v. My trusty $9 meter from Radio Shack that's 25 years old is dead. No wonder I was confused.I finally put a battery in my digital meter and the battery showed 10.6v with the engine off and 10.54v and dropping voltage with the engine running. The engine was running like too. I installed my spare alternator and now everything works as advertised.I did not check the alternator case to ground but obviously this was more than a no charge condition. There was a short to ground in that alternator I'm sure. I've never seen symptoms like this before.Thanks all for your help. I knew I'd get good advice here. Quote Selected
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