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Post by Bismo on Oct 11, 2011 19:47:41 GMT -5
Had a particularly fun, blues-filled weekend last weekend, but with one hiccup I wonder if any of you real gearheads have an opinion on. As most of you know, I'm a wheelman but no real gear head!
Saturday night I was invited to sit in with a friend's band for a benefit gig they were doing, which was a blast. Drove the Monaco up there, parked in the lot behind the Knights of Columbus hall (there was a local cruiser parked in a premiere spot in FRONT of the building, giving me an... interested eye as I drove past to the rear!)
The cop left a bit later, maybe 10 minutes, so I went out to move BLUES1 up to the front spot. She started right up, I backed out of my parking space, shifted her into Drive... and she died. Well, Died with a capital "D". Engine died, and the electrics were completely gone. No idiot lights with the key turned, no interior lights. Nada.
Having a show to do my buddy helped me push her into a corner of the lot to be dealt with later... I'm figuring a master fuse relay, or a grounding problem... something like that.
For chuckles came out between sets (probably an hour later) and noticed the interior light come on when I opened the door. So put the key in, and she started right up! She's been fine again ever since.
So, any advice on what to check? Intermittent (frayed) wiring problem somewhere? Overheating ballast resistor perhaps? I'm thinking it may have to do with it just cooling down, although haven't had any other probs before or since (knock on wood, only been a few days) even when restarting warm.
With thanks in advance,
- Bis
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Post by sigmfsk on Oct 11, 2011 20:12:37 GMT -5
Engine died, and the electrics were completely gone. No idiot lights with the key turned, no interior lights. Nada. ... For chuckles came out between sets (probably an hour later) and noticed the interior light come on when I opened the door. So put the key in, and she started right up! She's been fine again ever since. So, any advice on what to check? Intermittent (frayed) wiring problem somewhere? Overheating ballast resistor perhaps? I'm thinking it may have to do with it just cooling down, although haven't had any other probs before or since (knock on wood, only been a few days) even when restarting warm. Man, that's a tough one. I don't know how the problem could be explained by a bad ballast resistor. But I really don't know. I'd suggest looking for bad wiring connector, or evidence of insulation that has gotten hot and melted or charred. If you don't find anything obviously out of whack, I'd suggest taking a multimeter with you so if it happens again, you can attempt to trace down where the fault lies. You can do some boning up on the types of things to check for by searching for "diagnose car electrical problems", such as: grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/zap/www.924.org/techsection/elect_diag.htmwww.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/maintenance/4314662good luck, arthur
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Post by Lord Vadus on Oct 11, 2011 21:23:44 GMT -5
I'd been having the exact same problem with my Monaco. The best advice I can give is to clean the battery terminals. Pull the connectors, clean them with a post cleaner and terminal brush, then reconnect them. If that doesn't work, check the grounding strap that runs from the negative terminal to the battery. That can vibrate loose on occasion and a good tightening is all you need there. If problems persist, let me know, but these are the first points to check and the most likely culprit of intermittent loss of power.
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Post by Bismo on Oct 11, 2011 21:53:55 GMT -5
Thank you for the quick responses and great ideas, guys, I'll run with 'em and let you know!
- Bis
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Post by Lord Vadus on Oct 11, 2011 22:19:37 GMT -5
The other probable problem area is the seat belt interlock system. If the bypass system isn't in place or functioning properly, it will prevent the car from starting. Most have had it bypassed and it didn't return after '74 because of poor planning and sub-par execution.
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Post by Bismo on Oct 12, 2011 19:06:52 GMT -5
The other probable problem area is the seat belt interlock system. If the bypass system isn't in place or functioning properly, it will prevent the car from starting. Most have had it bypassed and it didn't return after '74 because of poor planning and sub-par execution. Thanks... I'd presume I'd still have electric power in that case though..so far it's only happened the once, but I'll be digging around a bit this weekend based on these suggestions.
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Post by Sean Belushi on Oct 13, 2011 0:25:06 GMT -5
had this same type of problem on many of MoPars... check your wiring harness that goes from engine firewall to interior. take it loose, clean it, dielectric grease it and reconnect. hope this helps ya!
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Post by Lord Vadus on Oct 13, 2011 0:26:15 GMT -5
It depends how the bypass is wired on these. I've seen a few, not on my Monacos, that some have wired up with a direct lead from the battery to the terminals and that can cause similar issues by creating a false short that, in effect, reroutes the battery to itself. It's a highly unlikely, but not altogether impossible potential problem that should be documented.
Another thing to remember is that most Monaco sedans were passed on to younger owners as their first cars and a lot of DIY repairs are likely to show up on any 30-year-old car; especially one that went to frugal kids whose primary concern was getting the car to run.
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Post by sigmfsk on Oct 13, 2011 2:01:56 GMT -5
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Post by chitownjohn on Oct 13, 2011 6:07:35 GMT -5
Yeah Ive had, probably cause it's old some issues w/ the fuse box inside the car as one pesky individual fuse. Always heard Mopars can have funny electrical issues.
john
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Post by Bismo on Oct 13, 2011 19:35:58 GMT -5
(Taking copious notes.....)
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Post by fordjockey on Oct 22, 2011 1:45:00 GMT -5
Check the neutral safety switch they do go bad. Its on the transmission and wire comes up the frame near the sterring column.
Check for corrossion beyond the terminal on the positive and ground wires they get green.
Bad fuseable link but that would be a constant problem.
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Post by Bismo on Oct 24, 2011 18:41:03 GMT -5
Thanks, Jockey.. the neutral switch makes some sense since it happened when I was shifting... though again, not just a shut-off but ALL electrics gone. But there's a logic to it!
I've noted that my negative battery terminal cable has some fraying at the block end, though no exposed wire showing and no green... certainly I'll be replacing that to be sure.
And in the meantime, still no recurrences despite a fair amount of driving... don't know if that's good or bad! But she's still rolling...
- Bis
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Post by Lord Vadus on Oct 24, 2011 20:00:22 GMT -5
The grounds ALWAYS cause issues of cars of this age; it's not make or model-specific, so much as it's a part of the hobby. Only cars with 100% frame-off new wiring jobs won't see this problem, at least for 30 years.
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Post by tk826 on Nov 4, 2011 23:53:46 GMT -5
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