Electrical woes, Lights on won’t crank, on charger 4 few days
 

Hi All,

Been fiddling with my electrical system for a few days to get the top to work right, spoiler to come up, etc. All I’ve really done was fiddled with relays, checked voltages here and there, etc

I’ve had a battery charger hooked up the whole time, to listen to the radio and run windows and top up in down with out running the battery. Despite this the battery has run down a couple time because the leads knocked off.

This was the case this morning, turned the key and got the death rattle. Got the battery charging again. Later when I went to fire it up it behaved as if the clutch pedal was not in. Everything works, just the starter, doesn’t evem try. (lights don’t dim, nothing)

Aside from the obvious, the clutch bypass switch, Is it just a coincidence that this is happening after I was fussing with a few relays? (it did start when I was done with my fiddling the day before)

I guess my main question it could the car sitting on a charger for the better part of a weekend hose any thing important?

Any suggestions appreciated!

P.K

You might need a new battery. A "gone" battery won't hold a charge. I would also suggest a better battery charger, like the Porsche maintainer type that plugs into the cig holder.

Thanks for your reply.

It's fixed! by it self...great, love intermitent problems. did the same thing a 1.5 yrs ago in the middle of a rain storm.

Both times I've tried and tried, jiggled everthing in sight. Next mornoing off it goes like nothing happened. Just when I thought I could trust this thing @#$!

Regards, P.K.

PK, how old is your battery? Your car is still not truely fixed. For about $75 you can get a new battery and have peace-of-mind.

Could also be a bad ignition switch.

question - if I were to buy a battery-operated portable cig lighter auto-battery charger, would this be able to power on a car w/ a "gone" battery?

If I went to wal-mart, would getting one of these things be able to double as a supplemental battery maintainer role?

B

Thanks,

You’re correct it is not fixed, that P’s me off. Quite sure its not the battery either. My car sits parked regularly for days & days, holds its charge just fine. And it should, 2 yrs old (5 yr. type).

Ignition switch is a thought but I replaced that a year or 2yrs. ago. If it was though, I’d need the car to stay broken for more than over night to diagnose, hasn’t yet. Since it’s latest episode, I’ve started it about 15 times without a hint of a problem. In my experience with ignition switches is they will eventually make the necessary connection with a lot of jiggling and repeated twists of the key. If they don’t, they won’t heal themselves for 2 more years after a nights rest.

This is the second time it’s done the exact thing in close 2 years, (enough to make ya pause before you go to far). Pisser because there’s no chance of real diagnosis until it stays dead for more than overnight.

My experience with dead or dieing batteries is that at the twist of the key, all the idiot lights will dim significantly, bells and whistles will loose there gusto and, if its got enough charge, it’ll snap the solenoid on the starter in and out, sounding like an idling chainsaw. And of course they don’t hold a charge.

In this case, none of the above occurred.Everything electrical worked fine (windows, top, radio, etc.) nothing dimmed at all when I twisted the key.

Sorry for the windy reply.

P.K.