grandgarson

Well, I didn't have to work till 3PM today so I got up and lounged around my apartment for a while, then got ready for work, and still had a half hour till work so I figured I'd go over to the mall and get some Chinese food (awesome fast food chinese place in the mall here). As I was pulling into the parking lot, I downshifted then my car completely shut down, and I barely coasted into a parking spot.

I popped the hood and found the positive battery terminal touching the bracket that holds the battery down (must have shifted when I downshifted. Can't say that I'm all that surprised after the 20 miles I drove on a washboard dirt road last weekend when I went camping. It probably knocked some things loose.) Well, I moved the battery back away from the bracket, and checked all the fuses. At that point I had power back to the car and the starter would crank, but it wouldn't start.

I'm not sure just how hot it was today, but I know that my temp gauge on my car was reading just below 200, so I was just dripping with sweat at this point. The circle in the picture is where the battery terminal was touching the bracket. My hope was that the wire leading to the ignition was fried and that the ignition parts were still good, so I walked to Radio Shack (only place in the mall that I could think to get some wire and wire strippers).

Came back out to my car, grabbed my cell phone and called work, then set to work on replacing the wire. Actually I didn't bother replacing the wire, I just ran a new one along side it. When I got done, I tried starting the car, but no go. I thought it must be flooded, so I pulled the wire on the coil and tried again like I always do whenever it gets flooded, but still nothing.

So, now I've got horrible thoughts going through my head, like what part in the ignition system is fried. I ended up calling a tow truck, since the only emergency road side auto repair shop in town said they wouldn't come out since they close at 4 on Saturdays (what a joke). Out of desperation, I tried one last time and it started right up.

Now I'm confused, but happy because I get to call the tow truck and tell them not to come. I drive home, get cleaned up and go to work. When I got to work, I walked up to my supervisor and said, "I'm here, but I need water before I start working", then went back to the coolers and bought a 1 liter bottle of Smart Water and drank most of it (I'd already drank about a liter of water while I was at home getting cleaned up). Her response was, "OK, you look like you're ready to pass out", so I guess I looked about like I felt. lol

Then when I get off work it almost starts then right back to turning over but not starting. I messed around with wiggling the wire that I had put on and pulling the wire on the coil and eventually it started up.

Tomorrow I have the day off so I plan to replace all the battery cables and any other wires that may be in bad shape. I'll also be setting up something to keep the terminal from the bracket again. Probably a rubber coating on the bracket. I'm hoping that it's just a matter of that wire that I put in there not having the best connection. Any other ideas as to what would cause it to act like that in case replacing the wires doesn't solve it?

In the picture below, the circle is where the terminal shifted over and touched the bracket, the original wire that got fried is the wire that goes to the ignition, and the new wire I installed is the thickest wire I could find at Radio Shack (it's actually two wires running side by side twisted together at both ends).

RotorMotorDriver

iTrader: (1)

That bracket is too big for your battery for starters. You should find one that fits the battery better if you can, or come up with an adapter of some kind.

I would go ahead and look into replacing the fuseable links. I know it sounds weird, but I had one that was stiff and old/fried, so it would make contact and work sometimes but other times not. Especially after a short like that. The wire that you pointed out that was fried is the one that sends power to the fuseable link block if Im looking at it right

Good idea about replacing the battery cables, whether they're the problem or not. They are a common failure point in these cars.

I hope it works out for you!

~T.J.

grandgarson

Yea, it is the wire that goes to the fusible link block. I know it was not getting power through it because when I got back from Radio Shack with the wire, I hooked up the wire at that end first and then just to see if it was getting power I tapped it against that bracket and there was no spark or even a little crackle like you would expect if you touched a live wire to a grounded part of the car (I know it's a bad way to test it, but I really wanted to prove to myself that was the problem. lol).

Yea, I know the bracket isn't quite right. I noticed that when I first got the car, but the way they had it tightened down on the end opposite from the radiator shroud it really did hold the battery down fairly good, so it wasn't that high on my priority list. I'm thinking that for a quick fix on the bracket fitting better, I'll just get a small piece of wood and trim it down to just right across the battery so that when the bracket is tightened it will actually put even pressure down on the battery instead of just clamping down on the one side.

As for the battery cables. That was another thing that I noticed is that where it connected to the post it was really corroded as well as the main cable coming out of the block that connects to the post, so I figure that will only help it to run things smoother if I replace them all, and it looks like I'll probably start planning a trip out to my supervisor's house to get some fusible links off of the parts cars her husband has out there. I figure to start with I'll just keep them in the tool box I keep in the car and see if I need them (especially since the parts cars have been just sitting out there for god only knows how long and who knows what kind of shape the parts were in when they were first parked there. I know why two of them were parked there, but not sure about the third one. One was parked there as a parts car after it hit a cow, and one was parked there after the engine was blown, and I think he told me about the third one, but I don't remember the story on it.)

gsl-se addict

iTrader: (3)

The one major problem that I see is you have the + terminal closest to the front of the car. This is bad because there is so little clearance there, if the battery move at all the post shorts out with the hood of the car and you start blowing links, melting wires, etc. You should have the - terminal towards the front. It doesn't matter if the - touches
as they are already tied together through the chassis ground.

This happened in my old SA. The PO installed the battery that way and didn't have it strapped down well. I was driving in the rain and hit a pothole that wasn't visable due to being covered by the water. Headlights go out, engine dies, everything electrical is dead. This is what it caused:

- melted accel cable, choke cable, hot start assist cable
- one of these cables sliced through the fuel line and started a fire (luckily I got it out)
- melted a bunch of wires
- left a nice burn mark on the bottom of the hood where it shorted.

Did about $400 in damages plus the tow. So, please flip the battery around! Also get a better bracket and some new battery cables wouldn't hurt.

RotorMotorDriver

iTrader: (1)

On my 83, the stock cables aren't long enough (the ground specifically, which ties to the inner strut tower) to install the battery the other way, as I had the same thought at one point. I planned to get new aftermarket ones, but I never did. The car got stolen before that could happen, lol.

~T.J.

grandgarson

Thanks, I hadn't even thought about flipping the battery around, but now that you mention it, it's a great idea since I'm going to be running new lines anyways.

zxrazorxz

i had this same problem it turned out to be my trigger switch fro my starter shorted itself out

grandgarson

Ok, I've got most of it replaced now, and I found out why it would start sometimes and not other times. The wire going to the fuseable link block wasn't just fried, it was arcing over to the battery bracket. I noticed that as soon as I started to loosen the battery bracket it started sparking. Below you can see how I have it set up now. There's not much chance of the + touching anything and even if it does shift enough to touch the battery bracket, I've covered that side of the battery bracket with several layers of liquid electrical tape so it has a nice rubber coating over the metal. So far I've replaced the post connectors, the wire to the fuseable link block, and I made all new fuseable links. I didn't replace the main battery cables yet, but that's just because the side of my engine was a mess, so instead I got some engine degreaser and headed to the car wash. Call me a pansy, but I don't like getting completely covered in oil if I don't have too. lol

Tomorrow I'll be replacing the main battery cables with the new ones that I have sitting in the back of the car. I'm still not real happy with the way the bracket is on the battery, but at least it's a lot better than it was. I got it so that the flat part of the bracket is actually clamping down on the battery instead of just the thick wire part that goes over the top. I'm thinking that when I get the supplies to redo the interior with carbon fiber I'll make a nice battery box out of carbon fiber that will bolt right to the car on the bottom and put a nice neutralizing battery tray in the bottom of it. But I'll probably wait a little bit before I do that, because I'm wanting to get a nice optima battery before I build a custom box to fit the battery, that way I don't have to build another one when I upgrade the battery.

Below are pics of how it looks now (except I took the pics before I made the new fuseable links) and a quick drawing I did of the idea I have for the battery box. The idea is that there will be 6 long bolts on it connecting the lips on the upper and lower part of the box (three across each side). The bottom part of the box will be bolted to the car and then the battery will be taller than the box is all together so I can tighten down the upper part of the box onto the battery to hold it perfectly still, and then I'll just have openings on the one side for the posts to stick out through.