Still dies while driving after new battery

[FORDlvr3.2]

Heres my ride
93 ATX w/120000 miles on it
new tranny about 1000 miles ago

here is what happened
my wife was driving down the highway @ about 60mph when she hit some traffic. then the lights started to dim, tach started going down, then i clonked out on her. i met her @ the off ramp, gave her a jump, it started right up. so i started to drive it home but it only made it to the nearest pepboys then died again. i put in a new battery, it started right up, and made it all the way home. now whenever i start it up, cold, it will idle @ about 1100rpm, the battery light come on, the tach starts to come down slowly, then it dies.
i took the codes and got 111,17,172,332,33,2,15,172. i did this several times because it was confusing to me, since there were so many codes. i hope i got them all right.
now when i go to restart the thing right after it dies, i doesn't crank , it just makes a clicking sound.
also i notice that after several time of trying to start, i here some kind of beeping noise coming from under the dash, around the glove box area.

any help would be great. thanks alot

 

[shopartsnw]

It sounds like you are not charging properly. When you bought the new battery or jump started it, you charged the system enough for it to run for a while. The other battery probably was good. Also, if the battery is let sit a bit, it could chemically recover a bit of charge. I would bet if you put the car on a battery charger for an hour, it would start right up, but then gradually die.

Normally, I would say you have a bad alternator, but since you just changed your transmission 1000 miles ago, you probably have a bad ground or a bad/loose battery cable. It could be easy to spot and fix, or you could be chasing a gremiln for a while. You might also have a dirty/corroded connection when they put it back in.

My best guess is the wires where they connect at the starter. I bet they disconnected the starter wiring and got a loose or dirty connection. You have both positive and negative connections there (including your alternator charging circuit), so I would check that first. Disconnect at the battery first so you don't accidentally short out the system or bump the starter.

Good luck.

- Mike

 

[FORDlvr3.2]

thanks for the help
i think your right, the old battery was probably still in good shape.
i will check the connections @ the starter. i took the battery terminals off and cleaned them with a wire brush, and checked the grounds. should i just remove the nuts on the starter silenoid , one at a time, and wipe them clean and tighten them down?
i will go do that now and see what happens.
thanks

 

[shopartsnw]

After you disconnect the battery, I would clean and check all the connections at the starter. Let us know if that fixes it.

- Mike

 

[projectSHO89]

I would suspect either battery cables or their connections at either end. Sometimes the cables will fail due to corrosion INSIDE the insulation jacket making it more difficult to locate the fault.

Pay particular attention to the ground cable at and near the engine block.

Steve

 

[sdpatt]

You need to look for three-digit codes only. Check out the topic below for the code sequence. Each time the battery has been disconnected, you will need to reset the idle speed progam. It is really as simple as starting the engine and waiting 30 seconds before touching anything. That link is also given below.

Code Reading: http://www.shoforum.com/showpost.php?p=110979&postcount=3

Idle Reset: http://www.shoforum.com/showpost.php?p=90952&postcount=2

 

[BlackOnBlackATX]

I would suspect either battery cables or their connections at either end. Sometimes the cables will fail due to corrosion INSIDE the insulation jacket making it more difficult to locate the fault.

Pay particular attention to the ground cable at and near the engine block.

Steve

this is very true. this happened to me when i still had my SHO. the cables went bad without any warning and i couldn't get the car started one evening. i ended up getting ***** for the work by the ford dealer where i was forced to have it towed to.

check them with an ohmmeter for continuity. they're cheap and easy to do though, so i would just replace them anyway. good luck.