Electrical !?!

[Zak99b5]

I believe he wants you to do voltage drop tests, so negative battery post to the clamp on the neg cable (at the battery; they are touching), then from the battery neg post to the other ground points mentioned (trans ground and alt case).

If all 4 points are at the same voltage (ideal), you'd get a reading of 0 volts since there's no differential. But in real life, there's always some loss at connections and along wires. It should be minimal, the "few tenths of a volt" mentioned.

On the positive side same thing--battery pos post to the clamp around it, then batt post to the positive stud on the alt.

 

[wonneber]

Not following. Measure from Pos post to neg clamp, trans ground, then alt case? Nick

I wasn't clear.
From the Positive post to the alternator stud.
I would not want to see much voltage.
Have the AC on, fan on high, and headlights on.
These tests are to check the wires.
If there's a problem you would see higher voltage.
Only takes a few minutes.

 

[nick02]

I ended up following the codes, replaced ignition switch, removed fuses 6,14, 37,38, & 42. Disconnected my stereo. Started at idle, 14.4 volts, turned lights on hi, fan on hi, volts 13.5. When attempting to connect my amps back, sparks.. I think one of them my be shorted out. Putting that on the back burner. I am going to put the fuses back in and hopefully it was the ignition switch and amp. Nick

 

[wonneber]

Can you run power to one of the amps at a time through an amp gauge?
See if one uses more power.

 

[nick02]

I have them removed from the equation right now. I am going to run it and put 1 fuse back in at a time. The one thing I can't figure is when I disconnected the battery, I had 3 volts between the pos/neg cables.

 

[wonneber]

Try putting a test light on the two cables then measure the voltage.
Some cars do have a small 12 volt battery to retain setting.

 

[nick02]

I put all fuses back in Saturday. Ran fine Saturday, Sunday, & Monday morning. Monday afternoon, fired up ,two blocks, blinking ABS & brake light. Shut it off, fired it up, no problems rest of drive (20miles). Tuesday morning, backed out of driveway, blinking brake & ABS.. headlights OFF. Stalls and parking lights ON! Key off parking lights on key on parking lights on. Would turn over -no start. Key off cycle headlight switch, parking lights went off, and it started. After work, several stops, 100 miles or so, not a problem. I am going to pull the headlight switch and see if it might be shorted.

 

[Deckard]

I put all fuses back in Saturday. Ran fine Saturday, Sunday, & Monday morning. Monday afternoon, fired up ,two blocks, blinking ABS & brake light. Shut it off, fired it up, no problems rest of drive (20miles). Tuesday morning, backed out of driveway, blinking brake & ABS.. headlights OFF. Stalls and parking lights ON! Key off parking lights on key on parking lights on. Would turn over -no start. Key off cycle headlight switch, parking lights went off, and it started. After work, several stops, 100 miles or so, not a problem. I am going to pull the headlight switch and see if it might be shorted.

Please update your progress

 

[irvingj]

No, I'm not nick02, but in my situation: I bought a battery load tester, and over the numerous times I tested my battery, it always came out in the "GOOD" section, at something over 700CCA according to the tester. This was a tester that had a big-a$@ heating element in it ("DO NOT PUSH BUTTON FOR MORE THAN 10 SECONDS"), and it did, indeed, get quite red as it heated up.

I kept going, but still found I couldn't play the radio for an hour with the car off without having to put a charger on it to get started again. If you look at my previous posts, I'd cleaned all the grounds and replaced both + and - battery cables, to no avail (though some improvement). Still experienced the same 5-8-second cranks before starting and couldn't play the radio for more than a few minutes with the car off.

Finally, I bit the bullet and replaced the battery with a new NAPA "Legend," the same as I had in it. Wow. Car now starts like it used to! Cranking, even when stone cold, is no more than 1-2 seconds before she fires up. Occasionally it'll crank almost 5 seconds before firing, if it's warm and I've shut it off for only a minute or two, but that's rare; 95% of the time, only 1-2 seconds of cranking is necessary.

Still can't figure why the battery tested good but didn't seem to hold up (?), but I'm a happy camper now.

 

[Mozambiquer]

No, I'm not nick02, but in my situation: I bought a battery load tester, and over the numerous times I tested my battery, it always came out in the "GOOD" section, at something over 700CCA according to the tester. This was a tester that had a big-a$@ heating element in it ("DO NOT PUSH BUTTON FOR MORE THAN 10 SECONDS"), and it did, indeed, get quite red as it heated up.

I kept going, but still found I couldn't play the radio for an hour with the car off without having to put a charger on it to get started again. If you look at my previous posts, I'd cleaned all the grounds and replaced both + and - battery cables, to no avail (though some improvement). Still experienced the same 5-8-second cranks before starting and couldn't play the radio for more than a few minutes with the car off.

Finally, I bit the bullet and replaced the battery with a new NAPA "Legend," the same as I had in it. Wow. Car now starts like it used to! Cranking, even when stone cold, is no more than 1-2 seconds before she fires up. Occasionally it'll crank almost 5 seconds before firing, if it's warm and I've shut it off for only a minute or two, but that's rare; 95% of the time, only 1-2 seconds of cranking is necessary.

Still can't figure why the battery tested good but didn't seem to hold up (?), but I'm a happy camper now.

I had a battery do that recently too. It tested good, but wouldn't start the car without a Jumpstart. I put a new battery in and viola, it was fixed.

 

[nick02]

I sold it. Nick