electrical problems

[lilj]

i was leaving my friends house one night and i went around the corner a bit too fast and my battery slid over.. causing the positive terminal to make contact with the hood.. sparks etc..

 

pulled over, car started back up just fine and everything..

 

i was taking my car up to the court house today and it died when i just about got there.. no apparent reason. pull over, get a jump start runs fine..

 

drove to the closest pep boys and decided to go ahead and replace my terminals (when the battery touched hood it melted half of one of the terminals -- i thought that might've caused the car to lose power).

 

so i replaced my battery terminals and everything, get in the car try to start and... NOTHING happens. i don't know if i touched the two +/- together or what.. (friend was helping me do it..). so anyway, basically i have no cranking power at all, no acc come on or anything when the key is in the on position. they tested my battery there and it had a full charge. i also even tried hooking up my other car to it (jumper cables).. nothing happens, same result.

 

i checked fuses and all inside.. i don't know if maybe i friend the cables or if that could've messed up a relay or what. i checked all connections and tried 50 diff ways to get it to work, with no positive results.

 

so im like wtf at this point.. my 280 is sitting with windows down at a pep boyz.. yay :/

 

any ideas would be appretiated.. so i can get an idea of where to start.

[VRJoe]

Check the fusible links, then check fuses, then check the wires. Have Pep Boys check the battery for cranking amps, you might have fried the battery. If it starts with a jump, I'd suspect the battery first.

 

- Joe

[lilj]

checked fuses;

-replaced a few dead ones.. nothing changed.

 

checked fusable links;

-one was fried and the connecter wouldnt seperate, ended up breaking.. it got so heated that the metal melted together rofl.. however this was the ACC link.. so i dunno. i tried using some 10 gauge wire and bypassing the link, didn't change anything. gave up for tonight, ill try some more tomm night

 

checked battery;

-battery was inspected and said to be fully charged and in perfect working condition.

 

thanks again

-jon

[VRJoe]

Guess it time to get the volt meter and start checking wires. Check the starter solonoid, it might have fried. Check the voltage on the lines where you replaced the terminals, might be a bad terminal. Also check the ground wire, could have cooked it, make sure you've got a good ground to the body and the block.

 

- Joe

[lilj]

can you say...

 

EVERY fusable link was blown.

 

tore up the box that they were in and made my own ghetto setup with female fuses =P

 

and the Z rocks now.. perfect alternator charging, plenty of power all around, starts up easier/smoother.. its just great =)

 

thanks for the help guys =D

[Guest De Schmaydee]

1st invest in getting a hold down strap for the battery...

.... fusible links suck... get a "maxi-fuse" block and correctly install it. you can get maxi-fuses just about anywhere...

there's a black fuse link (or used to be)....it allows the alternator to connect to the battery (has a big white wire going to the alternator)...w/o it the car runs off the battery (until it goes down....and it does it pretty quick) and will not charge.

if the alternator's shot (they will test it for free @ most any parts store)...i'd replace it w/a maxima,pathfinder or (best) get an adaptor bracket and get a cheap big-ass gm alternator....its hard to get a zx alternator (thats been rebuilt) thats any good (i've been through 3 in the last year)...and the zx alternators are pretty wimpy anyway.

be REALLY CAREFUL...... ....s