scott12v@pghaudi

I always seem to have irritating electrical issues with my Coupe, but the latest one has left the car inoperable...

Last weekend, I changed the rear rotors on the car. Between working on the car and doing other things, it took about 7 hours from the time I started working until I put away my tools. When I went to start the car, I got absolutely no juice. I assumed that I had drained the battery entirely from leaving the hatch open (although I was surprised that the battery would be totally dead).

I put in a different (not new) battery and drove home without any further issues. However, the next time I went to start the car, I had power until I turned the key; once I turned the key, the car went completely dead. I opened the door to check the battery connections, but as soon as I did so, power was restored and I was able to start the car and drive away. I had no further problems that day. My girlfriend borrowed the car the next day and had no problem starting the car the first time, but did have the exact same problem when she was returning home from her destination. She did get it started after a few tries of opening and closing the door and turning the key.

Last night, I tried starting the car and ran into the same problem. I eventually got the car started but it shut itself down after about 15 seconds and once again all power was gone. Occasionally, a door open/shut sequence will get power back to the car, but as soon as I turn the key to the on position, power dies again.

It certainly sounds like a loose wire to me (since opening and closing the door seems to "jar" it back in place), but I have no idea where to start. I *hope* but doubt that there is a loose wire in the battery and plan to try a different one when I get home, but failing that, I'm not sure where to start looking.

I will say that I believe that my alternator trigger wire has a break in it but has been this way for some time. I say this because all of my warning lights remain lit and the voltage remains low (11) until the car reaches 1500 RPMs at which time it is obvious that the alternator turns on and everything is fine. The alternator was replaced with a reman unit from Blau about 6 months ago.

I have had another problem in the past where the fuse that controls the instrument cluster has blown about once a month, but this hasn't occurred since I cleaned the contacts on my brake lights (as suggested by the list).

One other time, many months ago, the car seemed to lose power as I described above, but as soon as I opened and shut the hood after checking the battery, power was restored and I did not experience the problem again until this week.

I live in Pittsburgh, PA, and the weather has been below freezing for the last several weeks; I am guessing that temperature is playing a part in my problem (the first time it wouldn't start before replacing the battery was in a somewhat warm garage after being outside in the cold).

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I will be able to spend a lot of time working on this over Christmas, but like I said, other than trying a different battery and finding the break in the trigger wire (which is going to be quite a job in and of itself), I don't even know where to begin looking.

Thanks,
Scott

Jim Bush

I believe there is a starter kill relay in there??

Might be a place to start.

Just a thought I had as I read your post.

Jim Bush
Holland, MI

Lurk'n

Clean the inside of the battery cable ends!

scott12v@pghaudi

Thanks. I'll see what I can find. I posted to the 20V mailing list too and they've given me some ideas. Looks like I'm going to be busy over Christmas!

scott12v@pghaudi

I gave them a good cleaning this summer, but I'll see how they look now. Someone on the 20V list suggested looking at the ground cable as a possible culprit.

QCRAZY

Sounds like a bad ignition switch to me. Alternator sounds like a voltage regulator problem.