Featured Technical Trouble shooting

Wenesday I backed the old sedan out of the shop after checking the air in the tires checking the oil and making sure every thing was in working order, I drove the car to Brenda's shop and took her to lunch for her Birthday,.

Stopped for gas on the way home and I was confident everything was ready for our annual trip to Cherokee,North Carolina for the show, Thursday morning we loaded the car, I open the garage door, hit the switch and the car was deader than a hammer, tried the jumper and nothing, not even a click, I checked the battery and quickly discovered the battery was 7 years old.

I just got in the truck and headed for town, bought a new battery,sudhed back home and got the car fired up and ready to go, finally on the road.

The trip to Cherokee was uneventful and the weather was perfect, we went to the show to get registered and back to the motel.

Friday morning temperature had dropped to about 44 degrees and we headed out to the show, stopped at a little cafe and got breakfast to go, hopped in the car, Hit the switch and NOTHING, not even a click, deader than a doorbell!, this is were I started scratching my head. I built this car over 40 years ago and just done basic maintenance on the old car.

This is where I ask you guys a question, what do you think happened, fortunately this happen were a lot of hot Rodders are around and a lot of solutions were offered, the car was running within 30 minutes.

I think some of you folks will have the answer a lot quicker than I did, I'll leave the question hanging for a while. HRP

 

A short somewhere...boy it might be a hot connection...bared/chafed wire against metal...I suppose if it was a short you might smell burning plastic...

Did all the gauges seem normal when driving...alternator gone maybe...Fuse maybe?

If its not charging it will run till juice is out in battery...it's amazing how far you can go too especially if you keep headlights off...

They say to pull terminal off when running...if it dies its related to charging system...

I'm no electrical wizz though...maybe your old battery was still good...I changed mine recently...it was 15 years old......It still had juice but was falling short in cranking amps...

So everything you did years ago still is but a component failed is my guess...

 

Hi, Danny, sounds like you alternator is back feeding when off and/or also not putting much out, maybe just enough to make the light go out and you drove there on the battery itself. Get the charging system checked. JW

 

Many times, for me, it has been a bad/rusted/dirty/loose connection at the starter solenoid.

 

Yay, another Hamb guessing game! And not brake related! To try and make it brake related (!) I'll wager the brake light switch was faulty. Or the brake pedal was hanging up leaving the brake lights on.

Chris

 

Test Light @ Batt in between cable to see if a draw when key off.
Draw from Alternator like mention above?
Old style headlight switch , with bad dome light on /off ?

One time I found a bad connection on charge wire from back of alternator down to starter,, when normal temp
Engine @ Air temp ,charging as engine heated up , Heat sink ,a bad connection
Would stop charging full 13.5/ 14 back to batt .
Check @ Batt while running to see what batt volts say , if getting over 13v then
Maybe until you get back .
when not driving & sitting pull one of batt cables off , So no draw on batt
Plus to see if batt goes dead over night .

 

Would the lights turn on while this was happening?

 

What was the "fix" the second time?

 

Not the head lights nor running lights ,
On
Head light switch Like used in most 60's to early 80s.
But On & off for dome & light dem.

32's that have a dome originally has a switch on the B pillar on the passenger side,

 

Dead alternator/generator

 

Slow drain or old battery. Replaced battery, works fine. Should have checked starting/charging system then, but didn't. No idea if it has a drain, either, but that would have been an issue more with old battery.
Starts the next morning, stop after a short drive and nothing again.

The drive and a new battery should have been fine. Started when cold proves battery is at least decent. Took 30 minutes, so unless the battery is hidden, it shouldn't be a battery cable connection at the battery. No clues on wiring, drivetrain or switches. No info on other accessory operation when fault is happening.

My guess is poor connection amplified by cold to hot conditions at starter or at battery ground at frame/engine. Possible switch, but more likely a big disconnect.

 

Ya wearing the wrong brand of deodorant - switch to a more sexy smell
I’ll guess bad alternator

 

My thoughts were pretty much what you guys thought but the alternator was working perfectly,

The deordent was working fine, the weather was crisp so no heavy sweeting.

I'll let you guys guess a while longer, leaving the motel now for the show. HRP

 

Bad alt would have left him with nothing the next morning after the drive.
The good cold start then the warm no restart is the big clue. At least for me.
Also, tough to troubleshoot and fix an alt in 30 minutes.

 

Loose wire/disconnected wire on ignition switch...

 

Not paying much attention to your past posting of the car I have this question. Are you running an automatic and using a safety neutral switch? I mean you never did define what dead exactly was other than to say “no click”.

 

Heck I’ll toss it out there…..Dead cell in new battery. And yes we have all had that happen before they came out with the new battery technology

 

The big clue for me was..."not even a click". After making the trip with a new battery, behaving normally and starting the next morning, there should have been at least enough juice to trigger the starter solenoid to hear the click. In my mind, that leaves two immediate suspects. A bad connection or "open" in the starting crcuit which could be at the starter solenoid or switch or a bad ground. TPOs (temporary power outages) can be difficult to track down sometimes because even temperature can determine if the circuit becomes open with a bad connection. Working sometimes, not others.

 

Most common no start condition is loose , corroded , defective battery cables .

 

Battery cables can look good but have a thin black glaze that prevents contact. Bad ground or battery cable connection.

 

I had a post typed on how to troubleshoot for a battery drain. Reread your opening statement. You couldn’t even get a click with jumpers. That tells me either the battery connection is bad or the start solenoid isn’t getting energized. I would check all the battery connections. If you have it happen again try hot wiring to the starter solenoid if that doesn’t work the solenoid is bad if it works something in the start circuit is bad. Intermittent problems suck I prefer things that stay broke.
Dan

 

Faulty ignition switch, ask me how I know. Possibly a bad cable, it does happen.

 

Let's see ... attempt to start car - not even a click, bought new battery, overly ecstatic the problem was solved, proudly told WAY too many people your car was now equipped with a brand new battery and ... some sack of stupid stole the new battery, attempt to start car ... not even a click.

 

Check the connection that the little gremlin character is pointing to.

 

It’s a Ford, not a Mitsubishi A6M Zero

 

You said the alternator was working fine, ''everything'' works fine until it doesn't. JW

 

Is that what that is? To me, all wiring diagrams look like this.

 

I had something similar happen once. It turned out to be corrosion between the cable and the crimped barrel on a cable connector. It looked just fine from the outside and would allow enough current flow for lights and such, but as soon as it had that high current load for the starter...nuttin