[metalman]

Wussup all, long time no talk. I'm having a major problem here, need some help, I'm completely baffled. Tsiah, if you see this, let me know what you think.

Car will not start AT ALL. I turn the ignition, I get nothing, no electrical at all. When I have it in the start position though, I hear an extremely faint beep, beep, beep, like you usually here, but really softly. Also, the red security light on my deck with the faceplate removed flashes too, those are the only two signs of electricity in the car.

Searched the forum, couldn't find a similar problem, and I have no clue at all!!!!!!!

Recently, my last deck died so I had to buy a new one, installed it, it works fine for 3 days then all of a sudden I get a 'Protect' signal on the deck, meaning a short. I take the deck out, unplug it, plug it back in, it works fine for 3 more days or so, no problems. On the 3rd day, I get the Protect message again, I'm like fawk!!! I'm stopped at a red light, so I turn the car off and then go to turn it back on, NOTHING, hasn't showed a sign of life since. Had to push it off the road and get towed home. When I started the car though on the way to getting stranded at the red, it started just fine, no problems at all. Stop at the red, shut it off, hasn't spoken to me since.

Here's what I've checked so far. 12V at the battery, ~10V at the starter, ~10V at the fuse box. Opened the fuse box in the engine bay, took the cover off the important fuses on the left, all the fuses are good, no problems at all. Checked all my grounds in the bay, checked all connections, checked my wiring around my radio, can't find a thing.

Here's what I have. 1989/90 Lude, b21a1, auto to manual swap, S-->Si swap (all electrical components were from the '90Si). I've never had a problem at all with starting (except when it's hot:Rock.

Also, just changed out my speed sensor like 2 weeks ago, haven't had a single problem with it though so I doubt that's it, that's the only electrical type work I've done lately though (and the new deck).

WHAT THE FAWK IS WRONG WITH MY CAR????

Any ideas? Any help is much appreciated, I'm stumped!! Thanks guys.

 

[Amaymi]

The same thing was happening to mine, i just bought a new positive battery connector and I stoped having problems. Just gotta make sure you get a good one cuz i bought a $2 connector at Advance Autoparts and it's the one that caused the problems after a few months. I went back and got a good one that looked alot like ours with 2 wires comming out and have not had a problem since.

 

[2fast4me]

yeh he's got a good point, if your reeding 12 volts at the battery you should also be reedin 12 at the fuses, so look into your bat connections by testingon the post then test about two inches away from the post on the wires and see if you get the same reeding. also your deck will read protection if it is not getting the proper volts/amps.

 

[tsiah]

turn the key on and measure your battery voltage again...it almost sounds like a dead battery
either that or you have excessive voltage drop somewhere....check those cable ends :emthup: its a 12V system, so there should be close to B+ voltage every where in the system (with the exception of some of the sensors where the ECM steps the voltage down to 5V)


havent heard from you forever man! hit me up on AIM sometime

edit
oh one weird thing I've heard off...shorted alternator draining the battery...
disconnect the alternator B+ cable and see what happens when you turn on the key


looking at a wiring diagram....
turn the key on, then with your meter, check for voltage on both sides of fuses 11 & 17 in the dash fuse box. with the key on ACC, check fuse 2 in the dash fuse box.

 

[FR8TRN]

Mine did the same. Make sure all your battery conections are tight and free of corrosion. My battery is in the boot, and it ends up that I had a bad connection on the main power shutoff key. It all showed power until you put it under load.

 

[J-Willie]

Sounds like a battery to me. Even if your battery has 12v it could have virtually no amperage. If you have 12v at the battery you should have 12v at the starter. Do some voltage drop tests over the cables and also do a cable to post voltage drop, one lead on the battery terminal, one lead on the cable connected, see if its the connections. Basically, what everybody said above.

 

[revvolutions]

did you give it a boost, did you disconnect the deck?

 

[David Mansfield]

I had the same/similar problem. It ended up my alt was shorted out and causing a huge drain on the system. replaced the alt all has been good.

 

[metalman]

turn the key on and measure your battery voltage again...it almost sounds like a dead battery
either that or you have excessive voltage drop somewhere....check those cable ends :emthup: its a 12V system, so there should be close to B+ voltage every where in the system (with the exception of some of the sensors where the ECM steps the voltage down to 5V)


havent heard from you forever man! hit me up on AIM sometime

edit
oh one weird thing I've heard off...shorted alternator draining the battery...
disconnect the alternator B+ cable and see what happens when you turn on the key


looking at a wiring diagram....
turn the key on, then with your meter, check for voltage on both sides of fuses 11 & 17 in the dash fuse box. with the key on ACC, check fuse 2 in the dash fuse box.

it almost sounds like a dead battery

Tyler, my man, what's goin on?? Yeah, long time no talk bro, hope everything's good with ya. Hit me up on IM sometime too, JBelstock777.

Sooooo, the car is fixed......I'm unhappy though. On the one hand, it's fixed, on the other, I'm an idiot. Changed out the battery, works great. I'm pissed!! I saw voltage, figured it was good. My buddy comes over to my house, says "hey, let's give it a jump, see what happens."

yeah, started right up, just like it always did.

here's the funny story if anyone cares. the battery going dead was my fault. i did the battery relocate, but for the first couple weeks of driving around, I didn't secure the box to the frame. It flipped over sometime, acid leaked all over my shit. Had to change out the wood and everything above the spare, buy a new box, never changed the battery though and it's worked great for nearly 2 years!! So I return it to Costco, no receipt, and when I bought it they forgot to scratch off the little date on the top. So they check my account, see when I bought it (had it for 24 months, it had a 100 month guarantee), then they give me a 100% refund. Didn't pay a penny for a new battery! Cost me $17 for the tow so little out of pocket to fix this which was tight as hell.

Anyway, drivin again, you guys are the money, thanks to everyone for the help. PP is always the shit man, freakin love havin you guys around!

Tyler, hit me up sometime man, I'm comin down to Salt Lake (hopefully) sometime in the next month or two, hit me your number again cuz I lost my cell, I'll give ya a call.

Take it easy guys, lates.