HELP!! urgent electrical problem.

Bushbasher · 15-02-2009, 01:25 PM

Ok, just did an oil change this morning and everything was good. Then thought I'd do a brake fluid flush so jacked up the front left to start there and once the wheel was off decided to turn the wheels hard left to make it easier to get at the nipple. Leaned in the window and turned the key and............ nothing.... except a steady beeping and the odometer flashing in time. WTF?? , I just fitted a new battery 2 weeks ago so it couldn't be that surely; but to be sure I hauled out the tester and checked the battery. 13.5V and the indicator in the battery is still green so the battery appears to be ok. All the fuses seem to be ok so I'm stumped . I pull out a spare battery and go to hook up the jumper leads and no sooner had I connected the negative lead than the thing came to life. DOUBLE WTF!!?? so out of curiosity I turned the key and the car started no problems, alternator charging normally at 14v according to the dash gauge. Disconnect the neg lead and turn the car off and nothing when you go to restart except the beeping. (15 times then it stops and the odo stops flashing too). I should also add that when I turn on the ignition the battery gauge doesn't move to read the charge at all and the dash lights immediately fade out as if the battery is cactus, except for the beeping. Connect only the neg lead to the battery from a second battery and we have normality. Obviously it has to be some kind of earth problem but buggered if I can work it out.

Can anyone shed some light on this and a fix cos I'm supposed to go to work at 4pm and I don't want to have to leave a dead car at home for the missus. We live 10km from town so if the missus has to go anywhere shr'll be stuffed.

Bushbasher

Bushbasher · 15-02-2009, 03:37 PM

Ok panic over and I'm feeling like a wally

e . After crawling all over and under my engine bay testing for a power short with a multimeter and getting a consistant 12.5-13.5V everywhere I finally pulled off the battery teminals and gave them a bloody good scrub with some sand paper. Even though they looked clean, and should have been as the mechanic I took the car to changed the battery and should have checked the terminals and cleaned them if necessary IMO, they were clearly the problem because now the car is right as rain. Even though both terminals were tight and looked clean the negative terminal must have had some crap on it causing a short. What threw me was the fact that when testing with a multimeter everything appeared ok but I guess it was shorting as soon as any load was put on it.

:

My name is Bushbasher and I opened my mouth before engaging my brain, I'll now go and stand in the corner and bang my head against the wall for a while, sorry everyone:togo: .

Bushbasher

Dave_Obsession · 16-02-2009, 12:11 AM

I was actually going to say earlier had you cleaned the terminals.......but then I thought no, of course he would have :-)

glad to see you got it all sorted!!!! did you get to work in time???

Bushbasher · 16-02-2009, 07:55 AM

Yup, got to work ok and everything is as it should be. Next time I'll try to remember to start with the basics and not assume somebody else did the job right the first time,lol.

What really had me stumped was when the car started after I only connected the negative lead cos theoretically that shouldn't be possable. I should have realised right then it was that terminal cos in retrospect the jumper lead clamp must have been putting just enough squeeze on the teminal to make a good connection.

Bushbasher