Catastrophic Systems Failure??

[hooterville]

I took a short trip to the convenience store yesterday and my sho went haywire. After I got out of the store, I started my car. I left it sitting for a couple of seconds and applied the brake. When I did that, the ABS light came on. I let off, and it went off, and so on. Then, the battery light popped on, then the Check Engine Light, then the clock went out. Soon after, the Climate Control went in and out, then the radio. During all of this, I was a block away from home, and the car drove fine with no power loss (that I noticed). I parked the car and shut it off. I check to see if there were any visual problems and I didn't see any. I then tried to start it again and nothing. It wasn't receiving enough power to start it. I figured it could be the battery, so I exchanged it with a battery from one of my other vehicles and the same thing, not enough power. My question is: What the **** happened? Car hasn't been abused, current maintenance. Something went out and I was thinking that it may be the computer but I am no expert. Please help! By the way, it is a 94 ATX w/ 100K. No mods.

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Check the B+ lead off of the back of the alternator, to the starter, and then to the fuse box under the hood behind the drivers side strut tower. Make sure the wire, insulation and lugs are intact.

I had the exact same problems you describe, and it turned out that the lug on the B+ lead broke away at the alternator and grounded to the engine, causing enormously high resistance, eventually resulting in the insulation and wire loom catching fire. It's amazing just how much amperage those batteries can generate!

Fortunately after the third time everything went haywire I pulled over and shut the car off. I was shocked when I looked under the hood and saw flames! I was able to put out the fire with my bare hands (I had the blisters for two weeks). I had the car towed and replaced the entire harness, including battery cables.

If you find a problem anywhere with the harness, I'd recommend replacing it before trying to start the car again. I'd also double check all the fuses and breakers inside the car & under the hood and make sure they're all intact before reconnecting the battery and trying again.

 

[poissonverte]

check the battery?? for some reason when the battery goes.. it makes the car act silly..

 

[SolidState]

dude, its your altenator....I just changed mine, same symptoms.

IT will probably start if you let it sit for a bit. But, if you try and check the voltage output from the altenator, it might be fine. However, my problem was it wasn't putting out enough current.

Take the altenator off and take it to some place to have it tested.

Cheers

 

[nc89sho]

ditto on the alternator, i had similar stuff happen and that was what it was

 

[marcus_sho]

sounds like the voltage regulator in your alternator is shot and giving a high voltage to all of your components, dido on checking the alternator.

 

[ShoGuy93]

Hey nc89sho i love the ford blue on the engine man!! Looks good!!

 

[shotimev6]

dude its the alternator... the car cuts out systems as the battery voltage goes down until the battery is done...i got about 30 miles with this going on until the car just quit

 

[93nighthawk]

Please do not tell him it is the damn alternator. My car experinced the exact same symptoms tonight. It better be not the damn Alternator. shoot I just had the damn thing rebuilt 3 months ago (replaced the battery at the same time.)

What is with this POS that it eats through batteries and Alternators. It will be fine for a couple months and then Whamo, Everything craps out! This thing acts like it has a british electrical system. shoot

Right now those new '03 Merc Sable platinum editions with 24v duratech are starting to look good!

Rant over, I feel a little better now.

Eric

 

[SolidState]

hmmm, does that sable have sweet sounding secondaries?

 

[Slo-Sho]

Check the resistance in the battery cables! It should be zero ohms end to end. Check each end of the neg. battery cable. NOT one end and a point on the block, but the actual cable end. I went through 3 alternators in two days (Thank you, Pep boys for keeping them in stock!) b/c of the neg battery cable. It had 6k ohms of resistance. I finally found this out after the third one. I can R&R an alternator in 15 min now. thumbs_u

 

[steevil]

I had a similar problem...but it was intermittent. cooked my expensive Alpine alarm too.

The problem was a bad starter solenoid. $12 part cooked a $400 alarm. Boy did I feel like an idiot.

on the 1st gen, it is a remote solenoid. Not sure but on a gen 2 it is on the starter itself.

 

[95sflasho]

Without a doubt it's the alternator. I just had the same problem. Every light (expect my battery light??) came on. EATC light and clock went off. In the end the car started to act like it was running out of gas. It finally died a block from my house so I took the alternator out of my parts car and it's all fixed!

 

[justin mccluske]

Check the resistance in the battery cables! It should be zero ohms end to end. Check each end of the neg. battery cable. NOT one end and a point on the block, but the actual cable end. I went through 3 alternators in two days (Thank you, Pep boys for keeping them in stock!) b/c of the neg battery cable. It had 6k ohms of resistance. I finally found this out after the third one. I can R&R an alternator in 15 min now. thumbs_u

this sound exactly what happen to me except i went through more alt , i think 6 in a 2 months but every alt had a different problem. one even had a bolt incased in it.

 

[cowsareholy]

yeah same with me when my alt died evey light went on but the batt then EATC went out and on it happend when taking my son to daycare and nephew to school. made it to both places and drove another 10 miles to the rebuild shop. it was also raining and when i put on the wipers everything dimmed out so had to use them when needed.


edit:just noticed how old the thred is lol