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MustangCRZY302

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Discussion starter · #1 · (Edited)
Did some searching... couldn't find it....


Was driving into work this morning, and after making the final corner onto the street that my work is on, I lost all my Gauges, and the radio shutoff/locked up. It drove fine the rest of the way to work.

I parked it at work, and shut it off. The radio shutoff completely like it normally does. I restarted the car, it was hard to start, and as it was cranking the lights on dash go dim, and when it did start, the ABS light stayed on and the gauges worked again. I checked under the hood briefly, and the ground strap from the engine hook was intact, and nothing else seemed out of place.

I know I've seen this issue on this board before, I just cannot find it again.

2004 SVT - 3 dr
~65,000 miles
Engine is 100% stock, except a K&N drop in filter.

Any suggestions/help is appreciated. Thank you.
 
Check the wiring harness to the battery. Grounds...ect.

You could have a bad (+) cable from the alternator to the battery.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
Just did some checking..

Car off: 12.5v @ battery

I started it up, and still had about 12.3v at the battery. Checked voltage coming off alt, 12.3, same as battery.

Then I put my voltmeter on the battery, and watched it as I wiggled the connector wires on the alt. Upon wiggling, the meter jumped to around 13.5-13.8v and stayed there for a while, about 5 minutes. I revved the motor and it stayed steady 13.5-13.8v. Then it dropped backed down to 12.3v and falling. I tried to wiggle the connector again to make it come back up but couldn't get it.

So I think I'm going to start with the pigtail. I'm inside thawing out now, its cold as hell out there.
 
Replaced pigtail, Still 12.5 volts at battery :(
Take a good look at the battery cables, you may even want to make a small cut in the insulation to check the condition of the cable inside. If it's green or white it's bad, if it's shiny copper it's good.

If you do that be sure you can reseal the housing to keep moisture out.

It's also possible that having that bad connection for a while has killed your alternator so you may still need a new one.
 
Discussion starter · #11 · (Edited)
Take a good look at the battery cables, you may even want to make a small cut in the insulation to check the condition of the cable inside. If it's green or white it's bad, if it's shiny copper it's good.

If you do that be sure you can reseal the housing to keep moisture out.

It's also possible that having that bad connection for a while has killed your alternator so you may still need a new one.

Will do, there's no corrosion at all on the terminals of the battery, i will have to take a closer look at the cables.

that's what I was thinking with the pig tail. Because it seemed that i got it to jump up the 13.8 by wiggling the pigtail, only when the motor was cool. Once it warmed up, the connection was completely lost inside the alternator. I'll be ordering an Alternator soon.
 
A little ironic humor: my piece of shiz Mustang has been running fine, except that I haven't driven it for over 2 weeks. Well, I started it up last night and it seemed weak, so I thought maybe the battery just needed to be charged. Went to start it this morning and absolutely nothing. Got out my multimeter and, sure enough, when I measured between the positive CABLE (not the battery post) and ground, I got 1.5V. Cut open the insulation and there was a bunch of nasty white corrosion on the first 2 inches of the cable. Problem solved. Not saying it's your problem, but Steve's advice helped me, haha.
 
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