Auto repair and gremlins
- Thread starter Oldbased
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Zapatta
Krugman's Fax Machine
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Almost every intermittent electrical problem I have ever had turned out to be a bad ground. Fords are especially notorious for bad contact to the frame and /or hidden corrosion inside the battery clamp / cable. Usually starts as mild missing at idle and escalates to no click when trying to start.
Also spark plug wires are made like shit now, the insides cook before the casing shows damage, you cant do the old school 'run it in the dark and look for arcs' trouble shooting anymore.
Also spark plug wires are made like shit now, the insides cook before the casing shows damage, you cant do the old school 'run it in the dark and look for arcs' trouble shooting anymore.
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Oldbased
> Than U
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The battery was fully charged before. In fact it had 3 DIFFERENT batteries in it when I was first diagnosing it trying to get it going for a week.
Oldbased
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Ya I didn't replace the wires just checked them out and regreased them. It was the distributor cap and rotor. The insides were oxidized heavy and the button had a weld spot on it. I'm guessing when I put the new ones in and tried cranking it a few times it hadn't cleaned out the old timing/fuel/air mixtures. I just drove it to return some stuff and I don't recall it being so smooth before. I had to look down at the oil gauge to make sure it was running at the stop light and can't feel the shift between gears anymore. It is just 1000% smoother all around. It's also idling at 600 rpm now where it was 700s before all this when I checked it. Guessing it's been an issue awhile now.
These vans were notorious for having ignition issues with moisture due to blocked vents in the distributor causing that but it threw me off when it didn't work. Between that and cleaning this area which was caked full + spiderbro from the inner screen it seems to be very happy now.
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BrutulTM
Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
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I had a similar problem with my old Oldsmobile and it turned out to be an intermittent problem with the ignition switch. Took the mechanics months to figure it out with multiple wrong fixes along the way.
Bad ground is also a good thing to look at with any weird electrical issue.
Bad ground is also a good thing to look at with any weird electrical issue.
Zapatta
Krugman's Fax Machine
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Yeah, all my pro mechanic friends tell me to disconnect the battery to reset the computer anytime you change anything now because it takes way longer for the curves to self adjust than if you do a full reboot and wait for it to recollect the data.
Oldbased
> Than U
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I had because I had used the battery from our other 2 vehicles trying to get it going last week. I just hadn't since I had done all the replacements I did do. Was my scatterbrain to not having done it since the ignition stuff. Computer on the 96 is pretty limited. Like it reads open loop on start (cold ) but once it warms it goes to no data. Trans Am is only 2 years newer but it'll tell you what is on TV tonight.
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Oldbased
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Especially common on gms that had either remote start( installed or factory ) or alarm systems. Suburban did that as well. It had all the firing conditions but sometimes it just wouldn't start. Replacing it was the fix eventually but I was able to rule that out early on due to knowledge I learned from the Suburban days early on with a voltage meter and ground resistance.
Oldbased
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Was a time I would 1000% agree. That time is well past me now. I'd rather not to ever have to open a hood again if I had the choice. Part of that is due to brother and uncle passing away in 2004 and 2007 and the fact we spent many a nights and weekends tearing down cars and engines and part of it is just that I don't feel like I used to. I used to love doing it, now I only do it when it refuses to start. Obviously.
The electronics make it pretty terrifying to me, and they're packed tight, have to take off the bumper to change headlight in 08 cts for fucks sake.
Oldbased
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That is what was scaring me. Once I had checked the main things I was left with the worst by far electrical system I've seen. It's just a mess of bundled wires all over the thing and it is all in places you can't get to it despite the fact you can get to the back of the engine easier than the front. I'm still confused that if it had been so rough idling and I just took it for granted given its age and mileage, why did it not ever misfire or trip a code before getting so bad it wouldn't start?