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pic says it all

man what a mess last night turned into. So after all the work I get done I decided to take a cruise to the pike to see whats going on down there.

so on the way down the instrument cluster cuts out a few times. annoying yes but I tunr the turbo timer off, drop it into neutral and restart the engine. this makes the gauges work again. Well getting off the highway on to RT15 some bikers deside I/m not going fast enough so they split me (both had riders with them) and go around me as the lane narrows down between highways. so I kick it down and gear and tear off after then for a few seconds. That is when everything went to hell. the whole car shut off. complete lost power. so I coast off the next exit and then the power comes back on. I was able to start the car but the gauges didn't work again so I kill it again and try to restart it with no luck. So I was able to coast off the road into a parking lot at least. well here is where more fun begins. The start isn't working. I check the battery, throw the jump pack on it, jump the starter to see it it works and nothing. So after talking with Roger and Greg I was going to try to pop start the car. But at that time I also was trying to mkae sure the starter still worker. So I took the solenoid power wire and jumped it to the distribution block. THe starter worked so I turned the key on and started the car this way. Once I got on level ground I tried the starter normally and it was fine.

So somehting odd happened and the battery disconnected. then the alarm or some wiring between the igntition and the starter, or the alarm was acting up.

Funny on the way home the car ran fine. gauges cut out one and there where no issues. In fact the voltage was the best I had seen it all day ....

but luckly I got home and I am goign to go look at it quickly.
 
You said earlier that a power wire had melted near the dpfe? maybe look there...?

Another idea might be your power distribution block or your grounds...I rerouted my main engine ground with a new, thicker wire away from the turbo because of heat concerns...maybe one of those places is the culprit?
 
You said earlier that a power wire had melted near the dpfe? maybe look there...?

Another idea might be your power distribution block or your grounds...I rerouted my main engine ground with a new, thicker wire away from the turbo because of heat concerns...maybe one of those places is the culprit?


the wire in question only had the outside covering melted alittle. it must have happened when one of the dpfe hoses popped off.

I have upgraded the main ground to 2 gauge wire and it now runs straight back and around to the the bolt in the frame by the distribustion block so it is away from the turbo. all the grounds and power wires are run up towards the brake booster and around.
 
Yes I'm subscribed to this thread, I'm not going to lie.


What the Hell Brian :confused:


My uneducated guess is, the Heat from the turbo has caused a short some where
 
My uneducated guess is, the Heat from the turbo has caused a short some where


maybe. again the whole car shutting off has never happened before. the instrument cluster issue happened one or two summers ago and hasn't resurfaced until this summer.

but I agree it seems like aheat problem.
 
Check all your connections, with the entire car losing electrical power, I would be checking main sources like your distribution block, battery, and grounds.
 
Check all your connections, with the entire car losing electrical power, I would be checking main sources like your distribution block, battery, and grounds.


I once over all of those on the parking lot and everything looked good or was tight. I did have the battery out earlier to charge it but the terminals where on tight. The distribution block up front had power as I used that to jump the starter. I took the small trigger wire for the starter and jumped it to the distribution block with a paper clip to start the car. Again it ran fine on the way home. It was charging at near 13.8 volts which is better then what it had been. Like I said it cut out after I had made a downshift to 4th and got on it ...

I will be going over everything I have done electrically recently. It just odd to have a problem with the battery/power feed after it has been running fine for a few months.
 
I agree it seems like a heat problem.

Man, I just caught up with this thread. Wow... :shocked: Ditto what Backseatofacontour said: I wish I knew even a quarter of what you know about cars.

Nevertheless, keep us posted on how you troubleshoot this. When I was reading through your posts, I swear for a split second I thought you were talking about a Jaguar. :D ;) :D Those V12 XJ-S's and XJ-12's put out so much heat under the hood, plus the original Lucas electrical work was crap, resulting in a lot of intermittent electrical gremlins.

Good luck!
 
did you check out the wiring under the dist block?
where everything is kind of stuffed up in side there.
i just found on my silver car this weekend that 2 of the smaller wires that come off the positive battery terminal and go into the block had missing insulation way up inside almost where they connect to the box. i am starting to think that this was the cause to all my electrical problems.
 
did you check out the wiring under the dist block?
where everything is kind of stuffed up in side there.
i just found on my silver car this weekend that 2 of the smaller wires that come off the positive battery terminal and go into the block had missing insulation way up inside almost where they connect to the box. i am starting to think that this was the cause to all my electrical problems.


no I haven't pulled the fuse box yet to check the condition of the wires running into it. I did check the possitive wires under the battery tray last summer but didn't note anything unusual.
 
brapple i wish i had half the knowledge you do about these cars...:shocked:

I wish I knew even a quarter of what you know about cars.


for the most part I have picked everything I know up from just working on cars. I also use to spend alot of time watching the power block which has alot of information. Also reading posts here on CEG has added to that.

but over all I learned from my father. Both in working with him and learning from him. I mean come on the man is rebuild his 66 mustang amost completely from memory and knowledge plus he can set the timing advance by ear ...
 
car ran fine tonight, nothing odd happened. although the voltage still gets pretty low.

I also got some more in car video but I can't post these here ... check them out on youtube...
 
That wasn't very nice Brian. I searched for Brapple on youtube and all of a sudden I found myself watching girls pole dancing :drool: Never did see you car! HaHa. I guess I should search for turbo contour??
 
That wasn't very nice Brian. I searched for Brapple on youtube and all of a sudden I found myself watching girls pole dancing :drool: Never did see you car! HaHa. I guess I should search for turbo contour??


interesting ...

yeah I tagged it with contour, svt, sevt, turbo


of go back to the other videos I posted and open one, then click more from this user
 
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