New SHO Owner Help ! (Mechanically Inclined)

[itwonder]

Wow, thunderous help, then nothing... greaaat...

Greaaat attitude Pal; inspires people to jump in and help you. With car off, battery voltage should be approx. 12.7 volts if fully charged. Normal alternator/regulator function is 14.0 to 14.5 volts. The thing with the J at the front of the car is the CCRM, not the ECU. That is behind the glovebox. The fact that it runs at all suggests it is not a CPS or CID sensor. Check your battery throughly, get a battery hygrometer and check each cell, or try another battery temporarily. Is the ground strap installed from the rear of the intake manifold to the car body on the right hand side? It sounds like a wiring issue, perhaps a bad battery cable or ground. It does not sound like a bad ECU.

 

[Tecchie]

Greaaat attitude Pal; inspires people to jump in and help you. With car off, battery voltage should be approx. 12.7 volts if fully charged. Normal alternator/regulator function is 14.0 to 14.5 volts. The thing with the J at the front of the car is the CCRM, not the ECU. That is behind the glovebox. The fact that it runs at all suggests it is not a CPS or CID sensor. Check your battery throughly, get a battery hygrometer and check each cell, or try another battery temporarily. Is the ground strap installed from the rear of the intake manifold to the car body on the right hand side? It sounds like a wiring issue, perhaps a bad battery cable or ground. It does not sound like a bad ECU.

Okay, not to sound rude or anything, but I didn't have this problem before the alternator died, ran fine, nice and strong.

Battery is BRAND NEW and it's an Optima Gel Cell... I replaced the old battery because, well, it was very old and it had a hole in the top of it (from previous owner) and just finally died when alternator quit.

New battery & alternator was installed.

Car will run completely fine if the alternator is disconnected (the main power lead that is held on with a nut) but when I re-connect it, it misfires and runs like a bitch, and if I can get it idle above 1,200rpms or so (when not in gear/no load) it's smooth when the power lead is connnected...

When it's not connected everything is fine running off straight battery power..

If it were a bad battery cable, then why would it run completely fine when the alternator is disconnected? and ****** when it's connected up?

And technically I was bumping the post to get it back to the top since I didn't get any sort of response for over a week, and the guy I Was emailing back and fourth has yet to get back to me... 2+ weeks... I understand people get busy... but dang..


Thanks..

Oh, that last email from the guy that was helping me was June 22nd......


EDIT:

I feel dumb....................... was the grounding strap that wasn't connected.. go freakin figure... The intake support bracket that the bolt goes through onto the intake is broke in half (was like that when I bought it) so when replacing teh alternator (and when I did the plugs) I must have forgotten what this double threaded bolt went to that was in my toolbox...

I feel so stupid... thanks guys for all your help... and it's the left hand side if standing in front of the car, and the right if sitting inside thus = the passenger side.. at least that's where mine is.. 95ATX Green

 

[luigisho]

Lol. it's ok. After the usual culprits, it gets hard to diagnose on the internet. You have to keep looking until you find something like what you discovered. Be thankful you found it and didn't go completely insane.

 

[tomp]

I was trolling looking for misfire info ran across this thread about swapping alternators and then having weird ignition problems. Sounds almost like a bad engine to frame or battery to frame ground. I wonder if it was ever solved.
-Tom P.

 

[SuperHO]

and a year later...

 

[shoon]

 

[tomp]

It wasnt dead, just pining for the fords......