66 Toronado, lights bad, engine stalls
October 13th, 2013, 07:04 AM
#1
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 83
66 Toronado, lights bad, engine stalls
I pulled my 66 out of the garage to take it for a spin the other morning. It was dark and no dash lights were on and the brake lights didn't work. Interestingly the blinkers did work and so did the headlights.
The garage had it for a few hours and said the brake lights were fixed but they'd have to take out the dash to fix the instrument cluster lights. I said no to that and went to pick up the car.
I turned the key and the starter made one wimpy attempt to turn over the engine then NOTHING. Turn the key again and no noise period.
The mechanic came out with the portable jumper box, hooked it up and the car fired up. This is where it gets confusing:
He said "interesting, the battery seems to have a full charge" as the lights on his jumper box were fully lit.
THEN I got in, put my foot on the brake pedal and immediately the engine died. Not a slow idle then died, but immediately shut off. When I turned the key again, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, not even a click or whir or anything.
I left the car and got a call in a hour saying the battery failed the load test and I need a new battery.
Granted the battery is 5 years old and there is a slow drain somewhere that I can't find but I can't figure out:
1- why would his jumper box show a full charge if the battery is bad
2- when I pushed the brake pedal and the engine immediatly cut off it seems to me this can't be the battery. Alternator? It didn't sound like a vacuum thing either as the engine just shut off and didn't stumble.
Any thoughts on this one? Is it related to the "tail light fix?"
Jeff
The garage had it for a few hours and said the brake lights were fixed but they'd have to take out the dash to fix the instrument cluster lights. I said no to that and went to pick up the car.
I turned the key and the starter made one wimpy attempt to turn over the engine then NOTHING. Turn the key again and no noise period.
The mechanic came out with the portable jumper box, hooked it up and the car fired up. This is where it gets confusing:
He said "interesting, the battery seems to have a full charge" as the lights on his jumper box were fully lit.
THEN I got in, put my foot on the brake pedal and immediately the engine died. Not a slow idle then died, but immediately shut off. When I turned the key again, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, not even a click or whir or anything.
I left the car and got a call in a hour saying the battery failed the load test and I need a new battery.
Granted the battery is 5 years old and there is a slow drain somewhere that I can't find but I can't figure out:
1- why would his jumper box show a full charge if the battery is bad
2- when I pushed the brake pedal and the engine immediatly cut off it seems to me this can't be the battery. Alternator? It didn't sound like a vacuum thing either as the engine just shut off and didn't stumble.
Any thoughts on this one? Is it related to the "tail light fix?"
Jeff
October 13th, 2013, 07:44 AM
#2
Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 7,286
Instant intermittent fails sounds like a bad connection. Like cables at battery or at starter or engine ground.
A new battery can rule that out, and is always a good idea, right?
Part of the electrics working and part not working sounds like snafus in the wiring- perhaps fuses, broken or shorted wires, or poor connections [like at the fuse block/ junction box at the firewall, if your car has that]. That is a matter of using the wiring diagram and physically checking every bit of all the involved wires.
I restored a '66 442 some time back. The wiring was out, and I wanted to re-use as much original stuff as possible. In going over the wiring, I pulled apart the wires within the fusebox/ junction box to find that two had been rubbing against each other for years, and were almost worn thru the insulation and short circuited. That would be very hard to find. I separated them and made sure they would not rub together and short out, ever.
A new battery can rule that out, and is always a good idea, right?
Part of the electrics working and part not working sounds like snafus in the wiring- perhaps fuses, broken or shorted wires, or poor connections [like at the fuse block/ junction box at the firewall, if your car has that]. That is a matter of using the wiring diagram and physically checking every bit of all the involved wires.
I restored a '66 442 some time back. The wiring was out, and I wanted to re-use as much original stuff as possible. In going over the wiring, I pulled apart the wires within the fusebox/ junction box to find that two had been rubbing against each other for years, and were almost worn thru the insulation and short circuited. That would be very hard to find. I separated them and made sure they would not rub together and short out, ever.
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