Mystery electrical issue 9-06-15

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PITT40

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So my son and I drive to a car cruise. I start hearing a weird buzzing thru the radio. We get there, I shut off the engine and turn the switch back on and the radio buzz is gone. So I go to start it again to see if it's still there and just hear the solenoid chatter of a low battery. Hmmm. So I ask for jumper cables and find a set and a guy to jump me. The battery was pretty low so it took about 10 min until it would turn over and start. The volt meter said 14 v, so I'm not sure what is goin on.

So at this point I leave to drive back home before it dies. I make it home and shut it off. Try to start it and it starts back up. It turns over a little weak, but the battery was just pretty dead. So I noticed the dist cap and rotor terminals were showing signs of arching and change them. Then I start it up and it sounds better at idle. It had a slight miss at idle the last week or so.

I shut it off and tell my son to hop in for a test drive. Turn the key and a slow turn over and chatter. Shut it off, try again and the dash light doesn't even come on, radio doesn't come on, nothing. I get the meter out. I have 12v at battery, 2.8v at the solenoid. I disconnect wires from solenoid and only leave battery and the 2 system circuits on the + post (leave off MSD box) and still the switch turns nothing on in the system. Not I have 10v at the solenoid though. I turn the key on and the 12v side of the fuse block loses it's voltage.

Any help on what to check tomorrow?

Ironically, my car turns 50 tomorrow. Not going to be a good birthday.
 
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You mentioned you have 12 volts at the battery...I think a good battery will show 12.5 volts or so at the terminals. But, 12 volts would at least run the radio- I would check the ground terminal on the battery for tightness and cleaning. Kirk
 
Not sure if it is a battery problem but I had a battery that showed 12+ volts but when a load was put on it that number fell to around 4 volts...found out it had a couple dead cells. Try swapping batteries and see if that helps at all, otherwise I have no clue. Happy birthday tomorrow.
 
Ok, so I disconnected the alternator wire to rule that out. I pulled the ignition switch from the dash. I checked continuity in all positions and there is no short to the wrong terminals in any position. I have 12v to it but when I turn it to "on" I have no power. I have the constant 12v to the fuse block that always has power and that 12v disappears when I turn the switch to "on" as well. I have no radio or starter wire attached, just the two circuits to the fuse block on the solenoid. I am baffled as hell as to what is going on. Any ideas?
 
Only a guess, have you checked the starter and or solenoid are not shorting the system?
 
I already disconnected the starter from the solenoid. So the solenoid was my next guess too. I will have time tonight to mess with it. Only had about an hour last evening.

Have any of you heard of a solenoid shorting? They go bad and will not pull in, but I never heard of shorting.
 
Buy this stage, maybe bite the bullet and call a auto electrician. Maybe he can find and fix the problem.
 
A few questions...
1) how old is the battery?
2) have you tried a different battery?
3) have you verified good connections at both sides of your battery ground cable/strap and positive battery terminal?
4) do you have the original wiring and could there be a corroded cable between the battery and the solenoid?

I think the next test a shop would do is a battery load test and measure the battery voltage under load.

While doing all this troubleshooting, consider temporarily disconnecting your radio as some electronics are sensitive to voltage drops and spikes.

Good luck and don't give up!
-Kevin
 
Did you

Try a remote starter hooked directly to solenoid. Started many a car with a screwdriver across the terminals, don't forget to take out of gear:D

I had a VW that every once and a while took a screwdriver across the starter. This happened even when moving from 6 volt to 12 volt changing switch and starter and even adding a hard start relay. While extremely a PITA it always did it. The gremlin appeared after the car was stolen and the cops found the guy laying under the car trying to start it with a screwdriver apparently he could not fix it either he had it for a month:rolleyes:
 
Glad you got it figured out! Well done!
So now since you missed your girls 21st, does she get a whack at taking it out solo as a gomeasai? :------

Cheers, -Kevin
 
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