Nothing...

[dantheman68]

My SHO was driving fine all day today, and then I decided to move it into the garage after work today to wax it. I hopped in, turned the key, heard a POP and some other noises like that, and there was no electricity, no lights, no accessories, nothing.

Then i futzed around taking voltages at the battery, at the starter, and at the maxifuse panel near the firewall. I got correct readings everywhere, then i jumped into the car and tried the key again. all the lights turned on on the dash (when in run, like they should), and then i turned the key to start and they went off and I heard this "pop" again... its almost like a click... sorta like a relay, but much louder of a click...


Even if the starter soleniod were bad, I should have power everywhere else, right?....


Any other ideas?

 

[SASHO91]

Bad connection somewhere.. You have a voltage drop somewhere. You'll have the correct voltage, but as soon as you try and move some amp's, it "pops".
Check all the cables, and connections.

 

[SuperHO]

Isn't there a fused link somewhere on the main ignition wire?

 

[dantheman68]

yeah... re-did all the connectoins now... i had it all good (12.6V everywhere), the radio and stuff worked, and then the second i tried starting it... same thing.

 

[Xtreme.NY.SHO]

Did you check the terminals on the battery? i know when i had my explorer the negative terminal was loose and the radio and everything would go on and when id go to start it it would do that same thing.

 

[USHOMEISHOU]

sounds like a bad connection at the battery, are your terminals clean?

 

[hawkeye18]

Also, check for cracks in the terminal. I had one crack on me, and it did the exact same thing. They can, and will, crack without warning.

 

[dantheman68]

the terminal on the battery itself?


I just started it with the clutch, when i take the battery cable off the battery, for a certain ammount of time, then reconnect it, the car will have power, then the second it turns to "run" the car loses all power, now if I bump start the car it is perfectly fine.... sounds like the ignition system or something to me

 

[Xtreme.NY.SHO]

the terminal on the wire that connects to the battery...the one that you loosen to remove. if its lose, cracked, corroded, dirty etcc it will cause this.

 

[SHOmethewayhome]

the terminal on the wire that connects to the battery...the one that you loosen to remove. if its lose, cracked, corroded, dirty etcc it will cause this.

i had a similar problem in my F150, i replaced the starter solenoid, positive and negative cable and battery. it was the terminal connection and the solenoid on the truck. its the big round thing on the fender with three terminals on it, they go out a lot in ford trucks/broncos.

 

[dantheman68]

i had a similar problem in my F150, i replaced the starter solenoid, positive and negative cable and battery. it was the terminal connection and the solenoid on the truck. its the big round thing on the fender with three terminals on it, they go out a lot in ford trucks/broncos.

Which is why in Gen2 SHO they changed the starter solenoid... I work at a parts store, i Know the fragility of the older solenoids... enough so that i have the part number memorized.

Ill have to look tomorrow, the symptoms are sure pointing to a bad terminal, especially after messing around some more with it... like pulling the negative cable... its kinda wierd though since the terminals are less than 4 months old...

 

[hawkeye18]

If you're going to do all that, you might as well replace the battery cables. Buy 9 feet of cable (at least 2 gauge, preferably bigger, I got 00! ) and two battery terminals and two lugs, and make your own set.

Why? If your terminals are in as bad a shape as they are, what shape do you think the cables themselves are in...? I guarantee you they're not much better. I think the difference will be noticeable; it sure was for me. At least a volt more in every situation.

 

[stensg]

hey is this a mtx or atx? my mtx did this when the neutral safty switch on the clutch petal went out all i did is unpluged it and conected a wire to the plug (hot wired it) and problem solved just remember to push the cluch in and you will have no problem

 

[zblackbeast]

Did you check the terminals on the battery? i know when i had my explorer the negative terminal was loose and the radio and everything would go on and when id go to start it it would do that same thing.

My 2 explorers did the same thing. Replace the clamps on the terminals. Fixed the Explorer.. Also fixed the sho.. had the same deal going kinda. Bad positive connection so it was heating up the cables and wouldnt start!!

 

[CobesSHO]

Everyone has been talking about checking positive connections, but have you checked your ground connections? On one of my old Mustangs, I had a high Torque Starter and that thing was so darn fussy, it had to have a really good ground in order to work. The one that I'm thinking of is the one that goes from the battery down to the engine block. Just a thought.

 

[SonicRiot]

I had a similar problem on my Plus eons ago. It turned out to be corroded terminals that I didn't clean after replacing the battery.

I again had the same problem with the pop on a Saturn SL2. It turned out to be heavy corrosion on the battery terminals... a nice green insulation between the negative cable and the battery.

So... check the terminals at the battery and the starter.