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Speedo and Tach drop to Zero, Car Bucks and Dies

F

fishbyte

Be Gentle I'm New Here
Joined
Jul 25, 2006
Messages
3
Location
Michigan
Hello All,
First time poster. I am bewildered.....Left the Drive thru, no previous problems, All of a sudden I notice both the speedometer and the tach drop to zero and odometer freezes. Then 30 seconds later the car starts to buck and buck and it was very hard to get it back to the office. I had to keep pumping the gas and shifting it in and out of gear to keep it going. It was jerking very bad like something was shorting out. Get car to office lot and let it die. It will do nothing but click, like low battery. Battery just 6 months old. Let car sit for 45 minutes and go out to try and car starts smoothly. No jerks just smooth idle with hood up. Measure across battery and it is 11.75 volts and then as I continue to watch it, 30 seconds later engine starts jerking violently as before and I measure across battery at it is only 7 volts and then the car died. Now it will not start at all. Acts like battery is being dragged down to nothing. Any thoughts guru's that link the speedo, tach, odom and jerking of engine with battery drain?
 
Alternator is either not connected (via one of the three wires), the alternator isn't charging (even if hooked up properly) or the megafuse is blown.

The megafuse is on the firewall, behind the sparkplug coilpack.

Look in the Duratec Maintenance forum, under "read me first" and find the alternator how-to for replacement procedures for the alternator, and mega-fuse as well.
 
I had this same issue the other night ... the tach and speedo stopped working and the alternator stopped charging ... alternator is new ... got home and checked every fuse and then started the car and all was normal ... all connections to the alternator where fine ... however my car stayed running and I was able to drive it home ...

thoughts?
 
Is Alternator possible

Is Alternator possible

Excuse my ignorance, but would this cause the car to jerk violently as it is attempting to stay going? Also one more bit of information; About a year and a half back the car shut done completely as I was driving it and the repair garage told me the starter had wires going to it that shorted out and replaced the starter and "fixed the shorted wires".
 
either a wire short, dead fuse (megafuse most likely) or dead/dying alternator.

The tach/speedo dieing are symptoms of a lack of electricity (eventually abs/airbag/pretty much every other light will come on too if you run severely under-volt) so it pretty much has to be one of the above.

Best advice I can give would be to take some electrical tape and go through your engine compartment checking as many wires as you can resonanbly find (and taping up those with cracked insulation or that are otherwise damaged). Starting with the starter wires since those have gone bad before.
 
catfish said:
Best advice I can give would be to take some electrical tape and go through your engine compartment checking as many wires as you can resonanbly find (and taping up those with cracked insulation or that are otherwise damaged). Starting with the starter wires since those have gone bad before.
Click to expand...

99 shouldn't have the wire cracking problem.
 
Try rockauto.com for a Motorcraft alternator. 200 bucks, 160 for off brand.Oddly, many of the alternators listed there including Motorcraft "may not come with pulley". Wierd.
 
Tach bucks up and down, so does car, only after rain

Tach bucks up and down, so does car, only after rain

I'm pretty sure this issue has to do with an electrical problem, but not sure. I'm really getting tired of it.

This morning I was on the way to work and it started... The tach would go down and back up with my foot still on the gas. It got worse as I kept driving.

I didn't let my foot off the gas the entire rest of the trip in hopes that it wouldn't die (like it has in the past). Then if it died, you'd have to let it sit for a little while 30 min + and should be able to start it.

I finally pulled over and it settled down, I turned it off and was able to turn it right back on (this is new, usually once it died it took about 30 cranks of the key to get to restarted)....

Please help, I'm at wits end!!!!!!!!

Thanks
 
Again,

Start by trickle charging your car battery so you have a nice, fully charged subject to test on.

Test the alternator's ouput:
start the car, and test Voltage across the battery terminals with the engine running. should be 13.7-14.2ish volts DC.
If it isn't, suspect alternator, alternator wiring, or the "megafuse" (between the alt. and battery)

Test battery:
turn the engine off, and your headlights ON for 60 seconds. Test voltage across the terminals of your battery. should be 12.0 or higher.
If it isn't, suspect a bad battery cell.
(This is why you need to charge your battery FIRST.. a low battery will affect your ALTERNATOR TEST results, as well as a battery test result.
 
Ray,
I apologize for not testing what you previously wrote first. I did however test it and both are good to your numbers.

This is the scenario, once the car warms up after 20-30 minutes or so in the 2k rpm range it starts stuttering (push on the gas bring it up to 2kish and it feels like it misses, drops down and comes right back sometimes once sometimes more than 5 times in a row). AKA A bouncing tachometer (not at idle though), gets worse the higher in RPM's you go, and it's almost impossible to go above 3k cause it does it so bad, it brings you back down to the lower range.

I appreciate any help you can provide.

-Dan
 
Last edited:
OrionHCCA said:
...This is the scenario, once the car warms up after 20-30 minutes or so in the 2k rpm range it starts stuttering (push on the gas bring it up to 2kish and it feels like it misses, drops down and comes right back sometimes once sometimes more than 5 times in a row). AKA A bouncing tachometer (not at idle though), gets worse the higher in RPM's you go, and it's almost impossible to go above 3k cause it does it so bad, it brings you back down to the lower range.

I appreciate any help you can provide.

-Dan
Click to expand...
What year, tranny, engine and mileage?
 
Had similar problem before 2...

Had similar problem before 2...

Mine was the alternator failing.... The car will run on 6V believe it or not... weird! The alternator brushes are probably just worn, also it is in a crappy location for water related problems. There are also two fuses, I believe they are fuse 10 in the aux fuse panel and fuse 30 in the main fuse panel... When my alternator/battery was dying I had roughly the same symptoms that you just gave... Check those fuses for a quick check. If either is blown, it is likely that you have to replace the alternator. Quick trip to Autozone to test it if you don't already have the ability to test it yourself. :shrug:

thx,

dd
97 toreador red contour sport
130K and broke (loaned it to friend of the wife:mad: )
 
Ray said:
as well, do you have PATS? if so, does the PATS light flicker?

does your CEL light strobe (even FAINTLY...)?
Click to expand...

Ray,

I'm not sure what PATS stands for, I think your asking about anti-theft. To my knowledge I only have remote keyless entry.

The CEL doesn't come on at all. I'll pay more attention to it, but I don't think I missed it.
 
Only after rain

Check wiring at alternator. Check if missing splash shield at alternator. Check if long "rubber tube" near PCM (by power steering reservoir) is missing. This is the "rubber tube" that you have to pull off when you change the cabin air filter.
 
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