batsonaMaryland join:2004-04-17 Ellicott City, MD |
[Help] Help Diagnose odd electrical problem...Help diagnose an electrical problem?
2002 Focus ZX5 Auto trans, 2.0 Ztec 4cyl 5-door no mods
Went to start the car today. Key went to ACC possition; dash lights came on, and heard the 'dinging' noise as I usually do. Everything nominal. Turned key to turn the engine over, and *clunk* --everything goes dark, no dash lights, no dome light, nothing. LCD panel on radio went out. The clunk didn't sound like the starter was trying to move, it sounded like a large relay doing something.
Nuts, the battery's shorted!!" I thought. Battery is 2years old, and is overspec'ed. Specs call for a 580A battery, and I have an 850A installed. I did the normal test; try turning on accessories one by one starting with the smallest amperage, and end up with the headlights, then hit the starter & see what happens. The hazzard flashers give erattic sounds (like what it might sound like, running on 4v or something) Then the funny things start happening.
First, the hazzard flashers started working, then the dome started working but still no starter. Then all the dash lights and "dinging" come back at the same time my radio jumps to life! OK, I'm channeling Richard Dryfus from Close Encounters...Now, everything is normal, so I try the starter (Poof!) everything goes dead again! (no clunk this time). Wash, rinse, repeat. Everything's dead, but comes back system by system. This time (luckily) the starter works, and the engine fires right up.
The only other broken thing in the car, is the RH side hi-beam won't work; it's an electrical problem that survived me changing the bulb. Everything else in the car is OK. The battery terminals are a little fuzzy though.
Has anyone ever seen this happen, where *everything* goes dead, then returns little by little, then the car starts OK? |
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rfnut Premium Member join:2002-04-27 Fisher, IL |
rfnut
Premium Member
2008-Sep-2 12:55 pm
Yup. Seen it quite frequently. Usually indicates a bad connection at or on the cables from the battery . |
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batsonaMaryland join:2004-04-17 Ellicott City, MD |
I'll re-clean my terminals. They keep turning fuzzy. My Dodge minivan's terminals don't get fuzzy at all, but the ones on the Focus look like little white furballs. I know; I need to get those felt washers & some of that purple spray-on goop. |
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hurfy Premium Member join:2002-08-06 Spokane, WA |
to batsona
lol, I had one fry the entire ignition system at the gas station once wen i went to restart it. Luckily i was still within walking distance of my parts car so hike down and get points,rotor,etc. I cut all the accessory wires and rigged up just enough to start the car again. A couple weeks latter the gauges that i cut the wires to started to work. Couldn't figure out how to unfix things that weren't supposed to work in the first place. Sold car without mentioning haunted.... |
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Elthesh join:2001-12-01 Fort Lauderdale, FL |
to batsona
Either a bad connection at the battery or the starter end of the battery cable. May also need to check the negative where it grounds to the block, but most likely it's just a poor battery connection. Give the terminals a good scrubby with a metal brush and all should be good. |
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Vamp5c077 Premium Member join:2003-01-28 MD |
to batsona
Almost every loose connection issue I have seen in cars does exactly this, it's very weird.. Everything will work fine then when a load/current is put on the battery by the starter voltage drops off and everything will go out.
Take the terminals off and wire brush/sand paper really good, check the grounding and trace the hot wire(s) and check connections. |
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to batsona
I would recommend to spray a little of WD-40 to the terminals after you clean them, that will prevent to catch crap again. to clean them use take a lemon and scrub it all over both terminals, clean with a cloth. |
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to batsona
said by batsona:I'll re-clean my terminals. They keep turning fuzzy. My Dodge minivan's terminals don't get fuzzy at all, but the ones on the Focus look like little white furballs. I know; I need to get those felt washers & some of that purple spray-on goop. Don't just clean the outside of the terminals. The problem will be between the terminals and the battery posts. Pull the cables off the battery and just run the hose over everything until they are nice and clean. Then get a small wire brush or a wire terminal cleaner and clean the battery posts and the inside of the terminals. The felt things may help but chances are it is the battery causing the corrosion problem. We use Delco batteries and Centennial batteries at work. The Delco batteries suck when it comes to corrosion where the Centennial are great. I had put a Delco in my truck (we were out of the Centennial) and had to clean the crap every few months. After getting tired of it I put a Centennial in and have not cleaned them in 2 years. |
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batsonaMaryland join:2004-04-17 Ellicott City, MD |
I'll post a pic of this before I clean. Both + and - terminals have other smaller (~20AWG) wires attached to them. The + line to the starter relay is about ~6AWG, and there's a small wire coming off of that that's about 8AWG. Where this wire is crimped, there's this brown goop that's dripped out of the crimped area; fallen onto the battery & hardened again. It was liquid when it fell, then dried to something the consistancy of hard putty maybe. This points to high-resistance creating enough heat at one point to melt this brown stuff to the point of being liquid. Heat & resistance in an electrical system will fry something I'm sure. I'll take pics, then clean tonite. I hope I can get those smaller wires off the clamp; I tried before, but they're real tight. Plus, if they're badly corroded, they might shatter (yay...) Years ago, my dad tried to jump-start a shorted battery. --I've never seen a 3ft spark come off a battery, and connect with the top edge of the hood before. I was ~10 at the time & hiding behind mom's car |
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batsona |
to TheHarvester
Welp, I got stranded at the neighborhood gas station when that problem decided to come up again, but this time not enough current returned to actually make the ignition relay & starter relay function. I jump-started it, but it stalled 12' from where I started when the ignition relay opened- luckily I was able to drift to a safe spot, then push it back into a parking spot & wait for a tow truck.
the dealership put in a new battery but also took all the wires off the battery terminal connectors & shined up the connections. New battery + installation ended up being $150.
At least I know that I won't stall, going down a major highway.. |
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Doctor OldsI Need A Remedy For What's Ailing Me. Premium Member join:2001-04-19 1970 442 W30 |
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Re: [Help] Help Diagnose odd electrical problem...Motorcraft Catalog Page. » www.motorcraft.com/catalog.doThis is supposed to be a complete replacement. No picture, just part numbers. Double check with Ford as they will be the only place to get the factory exact cable.
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