Chip997
05-18-2016, 09:04 PM
Thought I'd post up the story of my electrical adventures over the last month.
Last summer I was running some errands and stopped at a shop. When I came back to the car all I got was click click click when I turned the key. I went back into the shop and borrowed a wrench and checked all the connections. They seemed good but I snugged them up a little more. No go. A guy walked up and asked what was up. I said I think I need a boost. He grabbed some jumper cables and the car started right up. A couple months of no issues goes by and it happens again but at the shop where I park it so I jumped it myself. A few months later of little use I left the battery on charge over night. No start. I thought maybe the battery is pooped. I take the battery out and head down to the local battery shop and say I want a new battery. He runs some tests and says the battery is in perfect condition. Darn I thought. That was the easy fix! :confused:
Then my attention turned to the starter. That has to be the problem! I found a local guy that rebuilds starters and took it down to him. When I tested the starter off the engine, it made a funny grinding noise. The guy said yeah, that doesn't sound right. He rebuilt the starter and back to my shop I went. Click click click. WTH. :mad:
I went back over to the electrical guy and he gives me some tests to perform. As I was doing this, it started up! I drove it over to the guys shop and asked him to take a look. He took one look and said the battery cables were too small and could hurt the starter. The starter was making the grinding noise before so I thought ok. One thing to note is the battery is in the trunk on the passenger side. The guy that built the car ran the cable under the car down the drivers side and then back across to the passenger side to a starter solenoid then down to the starter. He recommended going with 2O (2 Ott, not 20) cable. I thought that was a bit of overkill but bigger is better right! He said I could run a bit smaller cable for the battery ground and also to ground the engine to the frame. I ask if I need to up size the alternator cable and he said no. When I was buying the cable, I thought, lets just do it all 2O and be done with it.
So, back at my shop, I'm running the new cable from the battery to the front and I run it down the passenger side to make it shorter. I also decide to run the battery cables out the side of the trunk, instead of forward and down. This looked cleaner with only about 6" of battery cables showing when done. Since the place I bought the cable from only had black, I thought to myself, " make sure you put the power and grounded cables through the right holes when feeding them into the trunk". You can probably guess where this is going but first a discovery when taking the old cables off the car. The ground from the frame to the engine block was loose! That was likely a big contributor to the sporadic starting problems.
With larger wires, come larger connections on the ends. When hooking up the cables to the starter solenoid, I didn't notice as I was tightening the nut that the larger connector had also contacted the terminal that the ignition wire is on. So, when I make the connections at the battery, there is a spark and a poof up front. I look up and there is a plume of smoke rising from the engine bay. I quickly go investigate the damage. Luckily it was just the solenoid and not the starter. phew, only a $20 part.
I go online and see that O'Reilly's has a solenoid in stock so I run over and buy one. They said it comes with a year warranty. Put the battery cables and other wires in place and as I'm tightening the large nut for the + cable, snap! The case of the solenoid cracked and the whole stud came out of the solenoid. Not thinking they would cover it I went back and pleaded my case that I barely turned it and it cracked off. The guy rolled his eyes and said he would go look and see if there was another one in stock. Luckily there was and in no time and I was headed back to the shop with hope that this was the last of my problems. It had to be!
Solenoid connected (gently) - check. Battery cables connected - check. Put the volt meter on and 12V at battery and 12V at starter. Ok, lets turn the key... "Uh, why do the gauge needles all flick backwards when I turn the key?" Hmm, better not turn it more and try to start the car. Now I'm thinking that my short mucked up the gauges. I remembered something funny with my volt meter reading.. I grabbed it and tried again. Yup, reads negative 12V not positive. Good Grief, I thought, I ran the darn battery cables through the wrong holes. I spin the battery around and reconnect the cables, hoping I didn't just fry the gauges by reversing polarity. positive cable to + and ground cable to -... Turn the key and gauges flick the right direction. Push in the clutch and the engine starts so quick it makes me jump. It used to turn over a couple times like it wasn't in a hurry to get going before it started before. Now it almost starts before you twist the key!! ;) Bigger is better, is right.
Great, I thought. Two days to the Huntington Beach cruise in and all is good. I can spend two days waxing, buffing and getting ready.
Saturday morning. It's kinda overcast here in San Diego and a little drizzly. Hmm. It looks better to the north so off to the shop to get the car. I meet my friend there who is bringing is 65 Coupe. We delay a little thinking the clouds will blow away and the sun will come out. As I back out of the shop, it starts raining. Just a drizzle but rain just the same. We're both low on gas so we head to the local station. I grew up in Canada and have driven my share on snow and ice so I'm familiar with slippery roads. I must say that 450Hp in a light car can get pointed the wrong way down the road in a hurry when the go pedal is pressed too hard, going around a corner on a wet road. Straightened up and heading the right direction again, we're off. 10 miles down the road, it starts pouring rain. My friend in the Coupe drives up beside me and smiles as he stays dry. I point at his windshield and point out he has no windshield wipers like me. Not long after I look down and notice the volt meter. It's reading around 10V. That's a little low I thought. The weather kept me preoccupied but I kept an eye on the gauge and it never moved. As we get up to Huntington Beach, the weather clears and all is good.
The day goes by way too quick and its time to go home. Turn the key and it's back to it's turning over slowly mood but it starts. We hit the road and look for a gas station. Yes it was only 100 miles from shop to show but that's about the range with a 427 engine with carburetor. Fill up with gas, turn the key and click click click. I silently think to myself so the car won't hear me, "some gas and a match would fix you right now". Never let your car hear you when you curse at it. Bad things can only happen. The volt meter now reads 9V. Now what? Thought I must not have tightened the alternator cable. Check it and it's tight. Darn alternator must have died when I smoked the solenoid. Ugg. My buddy gives me a little push, pop the clutch and it starts up. About half way home, I notice the voltage has dropped some more. I start thinking, "What's the worst that will happen if the power gets too low?" I start thinking through the systems and suddenly realize the fuel pump is electric. No sooner had I thought this when I start hearing some crackling from the exhaust and see the tach drop to zero. Uh-oh. Now, driving in LA traffic with a running car can be hectic. Coasting with a car that isn't running, isn't any better. Luckily I like to drive on the right side of the freeway because in California the right lanes are the faster lanes when traffic backs up because everyone and their dog wants to cram over in the left lane for some reason. I coast to the shoulder and wait for my buddy to pull up behind me. After a few minutes of pondering our predicament, I look on google maps for the closest auto store. O'Reilly's is one exit back. My friend hops in his Coupe and heads off to get a new battery. We figure I drove all the way up on battery power, I should make it back with a new one. We were going to swap batteries from his car to mine but he has side, screw in connectors for his battery and mine has posts on top so no luck. I sit with my car, pretending to look down at my phone so I don't have to look at the people driving by that are staring at me. I will note that two fellow FFR owners from San Diego direction did stop to offer assistance so thanks to you both. No one else stopped. With new battery installed, the car fired up and we were off and made it all the way back home with no more incidents. The battery was still around 11V when we got home.
I took the alternator over to the electrical guy He hooked it up on his test bench and it ran prefect. :mad: Once again, I think quietly to myself about the gasoline and match cure. The guy gives me a couple more suggestions to check and off I go. I install the alternator again and take some measurements. All seems good. Then I look at the alternator and think. I never did change that cable from the alternator to the solenoid. Hook up the volt meter to check continuity, nothing. I roll it over and notice that the insulation is split open and the wires are burnt inside. The grey side of the cable reads that it is a fuse cable. Install new cable and voila. 14V on the voltmeter with engine running.
So I guess the moral of the story is check all the connections, use your volt meter and don't jump at the easy solutions until you have tested everything. Also, making the cable run from the battery to starter be as short as possible is probably a good rule to follow as well.
Last summer I was running some errands and stopped at a shop. When I came back to the car all I got was click click click when I turned the key. I went back into the shop and borrowed a wrench and checked all the connections. They seemed good but I snugged them up a little more. No go. A guy walked up and asked what was up. I said I think I need a boost. He grabbed some jumper cables and the car started right up. A couple months of no issues goes by and it happens again but at the shop where I park it so I jumped it myself. A few months later of little use I left the battery on charge over night. No start. I thought maybe the battery is pooped. I take the battery out and head down to the local battery shop and say I want a new battery. He runs some tests and says the battery is in perfect condition. Darn I thought. That was the easy fix! :confused:
Then my attention turned to the starter. That has to be the problem! I found a local guy that rebuilds starters and took it down to him. When I tested the starter off the engine, it made a funny grinding noise. The guy said yeah, that doesn't sound right. He rebuilt the starter and back to my shop I went. Click click click. WTH. :mad:
I went back over to the electrical guy and he gives me some tests to perform. As I was doing this, it started up! I drove it over to the guys shop and asked him to take a look. He took one look and said the battery cables were too small and could hurt the starter. The starter was making the grinding noise before so I thought ok. One thing to note is the battery is in the trunk on the passenger side. The guy that built the car ran the cable under the car down the drivers side and then back across to the passenger side to a starter solenoid then down to the starter. He recommended going with 2O (2 Ott, not 20) cable. I thought that was a bit of overkill but bigger is better right! He said I could run a bit smaller cable for the battery ground and also to ground the engine to the frame. I ask if I need to up size the alternator cable and he said no. When I was buying the cable, I thought, lets just do it all 2O and be done with it.
So, back at my shop, I'm running the new cable from the battery to the front and I run it down the passenger side to make it shorter. I also decide to run the battery cables out the side of the trunk, instead of forward and down. This looked cleaner with only about 6" of battery cables showing when done. Since the place I bought the cable from only had black, I thought to myself, " make sure you put the power and grounded cables through the right holes when feeding them into the trunk". You can probably guess where this is going but first a discovery when taking the old cables off the car. The ground from the frame to the engine block was loose! That was likely a big contributor to the sporadic starting problems.
With larger wires, come larger connections on the ends. When hooking up the cables to the starter solenoid, I didn't notice as I was tightening the nut that the larger connector had also contacted the terminal that the ignition wire is on. So, when I make the connections at the battery, there is a spark and a poof up front. I look up and there is a plume of smoke rising from the engine bay. I quickly go investigate the damage. Luckily it was just the solenoid and not the starter. phew, only a $20 part.
I go online and see that O'Reilly's has a solenoid in stock so I run over and buy one. They said it comes with a year warranty. Put the battery cables and other wires in place and as I'm tightening the large nut for the + cable, snap! The case of the solenoid cracked and the whole stud came out of the solenoid. Not thinking they would cover it I went back and pleaded my case that I barely turned it and it cracked off. The guy rolled his eyes and said he would go look and see if there was another one in stock. Luckily there was and in no time and I was headed back to the shop with hope that this was the last of my problems. It had to be!
Solenoid connected (gently) - check. Battery cables connected - check. Put the volt meter on and 12V at battery and 12V at starter. Ok, lets turn the key... "Uh, why do the gauge needles all flick backwards when I turn the key?" Hmm, better not turn it more and try to start the car. Now I'm thinking that my short mucked up the gauges. I remembered something funny with my volt meter reading.. I grabbed it and tried again. Yup, reads negative 12V not positive. Good Grief, I thought, I ran the darn battery cables through the wrong holes. I spin the battery around and reconnect the cables, hoping I didn't just fry the gauges by reversing polarity. positive cable to + and ground cable to -... Turn the key and gauges flick the right direction. Push in the clutch and the engine starts so quick it makes me jump. It used to turn over a couple times like it wasn't in a hurry to get going before it started before. Now it almost starts before you twist the key!! ;) Bigger is better, is right.
Great, I thought. Two days to the Huntington Beach cruise in and all is good. I can spend two days waxing, buffing and getting ready.
Saturday morning. It's kinda overcast here in San Diego and a little drizzly. Hmm. It looks better to the north so off to the shop to get the car. I meet my friend there who is bringing is 65 Coupe. We delay a little thinking the clouds will blow away and the sun will come out. As I back out of the shop, it starts raining. Just a drizzle but rain just the same. We're both low on gas so we head to the local station. I grew up in Canada and have driven my share on snow and ice so I'm familiar with slippery roads. I must say that 450Hp in a light car can get pointed the wrong way down the road in a hurry when the go pedal is pressed too hard, going around a corner on a wet road. Straightened up and heading the right direction again, we're off. 10 miles down the road, it starts pouring rain. My friend in the Coupe drives up beside me and smiles as he stays dry. I point at his windshield and point out he has no windshield wipers like me. Not long after I look down and notice the volt meter. It's reading around 10V. That's a little low I thought. The weather kept me preoccupied but I kept an eye on the gauge and it never moved. As we get up to Huntington Beach, the weather clears and all is good.
The day goes by way too quick and its time to go home. Turn the key and it's back to it's turning over slowly mood but it starts. We hit the road and look for a gas station. Yes it was only 100 miles from shop to show but that's about the range with a 427 engine with carburetor. Fill up with gas, turn the key and click click click. I silently think to myself so the car won't hear me, "some gas and a match would fix you right now". Never let your car hear you when you curse at it. Bad things can only happen. The volt meter now reads 9V. Now what? Thought I must not have tightened the alternator cable. Check it and it's tight. Darn alternator must have died when I smoked the solenoid. Ugg. My buddy gives me a little push, pop the clutch and it starts up. About half way home, I notice the voltage has dropped some more. I start thinking, "What's the worst that will happen if the power gets too low?" I start thinking through the systems and suddenly realize the fuel pump is electric. No sooner had I thought this when I start hearing some crackling from the exhaust and see the tach drop to zero. Uh-oh. Now, driving in LA traffic with a running car can be hectic. Coasting with a car that isn't running, isn't any better. Luckily I like to drive on the right side of the freeway because in California the right lanes are the faster lanes when traffic backs up because everyone and their dog wants to cram over in the left lane for some reason. I coast to the shoulder and wait for my buddy to pull up behind me. After a few minutes of pondering our predicament, I look on google maps for the closest auto store. O'Reilly's is one exit back. My friend hops in his Coupe and heads off to get a new battery. We figure I drove all the way up on battery power, I should make it back with a new one. We were going to swap batteries from his car to mine but he has side, screw in connectors for his battery and mine has posts on top so no luck. I sit with my car, pretending to look down at my phone so I don't have to look at the people driving by that are staring at me. I will note that two fellow FFR owners from San Diego direction did stop to offer assistance so thanks to you both. No one else stopped. With new battery installed, the car fired up and we were off and made it all the way back home with no more incidents. The battery was still around 11V when we got home.
I took the alternator over to the electrical guy He hooked it up on his test bench and it ran prefect. :mad: Once again, I think quietly to myself about the gasoline and match cure. The guy gives me a couple more suggestions to check and off I go. I install the alternator again and take some measurements. All seems good. Then I look at the alternator and think. I never did change that cable from the alternator to the solenoid. Hook up the volt meter to check continuity, nothing. I roll it over and notice that the insulation is split open and the wires are burnt inside. The grey side of the cable reads that it is a fuse cable. Install new cable and voila. 14V on the voltmeter with engine running.
So I guess the moral of the story is check all the connections, use your volt meter and don't jump at the easy solutions until you have tested everything. Also, making the cable run from the battery to starter be as short as possible is probably a good rule to follow as well.