help electrical ghost!

[818sc400]

sup guys,

ok so my car is reallly messed up. For the past month it hasn't started on me bout 2x a week

wat happens is when i turn the key the lights radio will come on but as soon as i try to start the engine all the power completely shuts off.

I'd pop the hood check my batt cables that ignition thingy next to the fuse box then it magically just starts again. the first time it happened i was stranded for an hour. but lately it only been 2-5 mins b4 the car starts.

when it does start it fires up perfectly no hesitation at all. this is soooo weird.

can someone pls chime in on this i have no idea what to do

 

[cjsupra90]

First off being that this is only your second post, Let me start by saying welcome abord....

Are you moving or wiggling anything when you messing with what ever your messing with? It kinda sounds like a bad of coroded connection somewhere, expecially if you wiggling our moving something thus giving it a better contact or connection....

Also, have you tried turning the key one and off several time without messing with anything else? There is a possibility that it the contacts in the ignition switch also even though you might be thinking that it has something to do with whatever else your messing with.....

You pretty much just have to try different things to try to isolate it down to one or two particular idem that could be the cause...

If you can give a bit more detail as to what exactly you are doing to get it to finally start would help.

 

[818sc400]

honestly besides giving the enigine the stare of death i jus tap the batt terminals with my key and make sure that igniton thingy next to the fuse/relay box is secure

how much would a new ignition be?

 

[cjsupra90]

What ignition thingy are you talking about next to the fuse box, The ignition control modules?...... Those wouldn't have a single thing to do with it cranking or not........

Let me get this straight, your saying that it wont even crank, or it will crank but not fire up an run?

 

[818sc400]

it wont even crank, everything jus completely shuts off. no to power to anything. it even resets my clock seats radio etc..

i jus went outside to my car and it fired rite up with no prob. but 2x a week it wont even crank. i'd wait 2 minutes then it fires up no prob arrrrg this is so irritating. i jus dont wanna get stranded somewhere

 

[cjsupra90]

ok, next time it wont crank, dont even bother popping the hood. Instead, try turning the key on and off a few times and see it that makes any differance also, not waiting the 2 minuts or so. Do it right then and there. If that doesn't make any differance, then turn the key to the run position and put the shifter into neutral and then try to start it (might also have to step on the brake, I dont know if they have a brake lock out). If this makes a differance, then keep doing that every time you try to start the car just to make sure for a week or two just to make sure that it doesn't do the same thing... If all is well, then its most likely a bad (or going bad) neutral safety switch.

 

[818sc400]

k ill try it.. makes no sense to me to why all the power shuts off and resets everything

 

[Muzza_NZ]

check your main battery connections (the large gauge conductors) and your main battery earthing point. If you have a bad connection in your main battery circuit, the problem will appear when you switch the ignition to start. The starter motor windings are very low resistance and will (attempt to) draw hundreds of amps through the main battery circuit. This will cause the voltage to drop (to near zero) if your battery connections have high resistance, and will make everything reset.

 

[818sc400]

check your main battery connections (the large gauge conductors) and your main battery earthing point. If you have a bad connection in your main battery circuit, the problem will appear when you switch the ignition to start. The starter motor windings are very low resistance and will (attempt to) draw hundreds of amps through the main battery circuit. This will cause the voltage to drop (to near zero) if your battery connections have high resistance, and will make everything reset.

where is the earthing point? the terminals are tight on the battery.

 

[Muzza_NZ]

Follow the main (negative) battery cable to where it's bolted to the chassis. There will also be a similar gauge cable connecting (grounding) the engine block and chassis.

 

[818sc400]

update*

problem is fixed. turns out the cabes connection to the terminals were loose. thanks all