[cairns27]

Hey I had a bit of a search.

I turn the ignition on....the oil and battery warning lights slowly appear, if I turn any accessory on lights die.
I've cleaned engine bay earths.
It started missing on dirt roads after a shallow river crossing, but intermittently, and came good after 20k's.
Next day started, but too ruff to drive,cleaned cap, rotor, plugs....all good,for a couple of k's, then missing again.
So I put new cap,rotor & leads..run like a dream for a day, starting and stopping,next morning,,,dash lights come on as if I'm awakening them from a slumber, and then die when I hit the starter, blinkers etc.
A month or so ago, the blinkers, would take a minute or so to come on first thing in the morning, but then work fine all day.
I've played with the fusable link, can it be the ignition barrel ?.
'88 NT LWB


Tar



bye

[Jezza86]

Alternators charging the battery? How many volts whe car is on?

[cairns27]

Battery has still got 12.82v's, just assuming alternator was working, it's only 1 year old.

tar and bye

[Mike57]

Battery should be about 12.5 to 12.8 without the engine running. Does it go up to 13.8 to 14.2 when the engine is running?

The most common issue is with the earth connections and there will be multiple points to find and clean. Get an electrical diagram for the car which will show you where they are located.

If the battery and alternator are both OK then the next most common fault is the earthing and then think about the ignition switch after all else draws a blank.

You can do your fault finding with a volt meter but in these situations it might be better to use a globe to check that power is present. This way you are checking for both voltage and current flow. Work your way from the battery through all the fuse boxes and connections until you find the faulty connection. That is after you have checked all the earths.

This is what I would do anyway.

[cairns27]

I am unable to even start the car at the moment, but I'm assuming the alternator and battery are OK, as both are nearly new, and had been starting the car for days, and sometimes it would drive OK.At present, the car will not even turn over.
I've jumped the starter exciter to the positive terminal, and nothing.
The car rolls, so the starter is not locked in.
I rent a house on a farm, and the farmer is away burning down a army base, so I can't tow the car to see if it go.I doubt it would but, cause while I said missing, really it was dieing, the taco would drop from 3000 to nothing, and fire up again.
I'll get a test light, and go through it again. Might it be a blinker earth ?.

Tar

bye

[want33s]

I'd be looking hard at the battery earths and the positive lead to the starter. Make sure they all have a good connection.
Also check the fusible link at the battery.

[cairns27]

I cleaned the solinoid terminals up today, then put a adult jumper lead from the battery earth to a bolt holding the gear box on.I then put a wire on the solinoid exciter bayonet to the battery positive...nothing.
I thought that this bypassed everything and the starter would engage....Yes/No ?.
Anyway, this seemed easier that cleaning all the earths.When Mike57 says all the earths, do you think he means ALL the earths.Cleaning the male part of connections s easy.I've always found females vexing.
How do you clean encased connections ?.


Tar



Bye

[azzas15]

Bad earths can do some weird things

[damagera]

bad earth....clean where your earth strap goes to your body//and or motor....if it goes to either ...try strapping a earth to both for testing purposes and as someone else mentioned a test light is good to see how much current flow there is IE bright light good connection DIM light bad connection

[cairns27]

Yea it was a earth.
The blinker on the LHS mudguard is iffy, and because the blinkers were playing up, I.m gunna attack it first if this happens again.Water may have got into it at the crossing.

At least now all my earths have been cleaned, it wouldn,t have happened if I hadn,t broken down.

Thanks for ya help.

Tar

bye