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2002 sxt 3.5 electrical issues please help

1K views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  peva 
#1 · (Edited)
I have read several of the threads in here and found some tips from people with the similar issues that I am having however I could not really find the final resolution so I am going to describe in detail what I am experiencing and what I have done so far to make this simpler. I have the money to fix some stuff but resources are limited right now.
2 weeks ago my battery was dead. It had died a couple of times. Not totally dead but not enough to start the car. After getting a jump it started and I went to Advance auto and got their brand gold 900 amp battery. The car started fine with the old one after a 8 mile drive but it was 6 years old according to the date so I replaced it. All was great until Saturday night. I have been driving it all around with no issues at all. Saturday I got in it and drove to the store. It was running great everything was normal except the oil light was doing the flicker thing which I found out was a vent issue a few months ago. Normal oil pressure....Anyway I came back out and it was dead. I mean totally dark dead no dome lights, no dash lights anything. I got a jump fired it up backed out turned on the headlights and it died. The lights on the dash were flickering as well. Jumped it again and since I was close to home and it wasnt real dark yet I thought I will just drive it. Died after a mile and the lights were flickering radio going on and off ect, Coasted into a park and ride and caught a cab.The next day went back jump started it in daylight. The more I revved the engine the more the dash lights flickered. Shut it off jumped it again no flicker headlights are fine opened and closed the sunroof everything is perfect. Drove it home backed into the driveway restarted it twice no issues. the second time i was messing with the sunroof and bang it went totally dark again, I spent most of the afternoon reading threads in here and thinking. I cam to the conclusion that it was a ground issue. So i pulled the ground from the fender and saw some rust cleaned reattached and it sparked and everything came on. It started immediatly. I restarted with the headlights on twice. No hesitation no flicker everything works so I thought....fixed yay. Drove 2 miles to my gf's house. Stopped went to check it again and it is black AGAIN. got some tools out of the trunk took the positive remote off and cleaned it also cleaned the negative again both the bottom and upper remote cables and the bolt that attaches them. Made sure everything was tight. Nothing still dark. Got a jump started right up lights flickering. Died in front of my driveway another jump backed it in and went dark again. The battery shows 12.8 volts, Everyone keeps saying alternator but why would my battery still be strong and why wouldnt a new battery self charge enough to at least light the door light and the dome light. I heard similar issues in here how were they resolved? Thanks in advance.

UPDATE**** As of a few minutes ago. I detached the negative and went to the battery I saw the positive was a little dirty. I cleaned and reattached. It started right up again. No flickering and revved perfect. Shut it off for restart and it went dark. It seems like when I leave the negative off for a while it runs good. I am thinking it does a hard reset it is good until I try to restart. Of course it has restarted a couple of times and when the battery is that good why does a jump start work when nothing else does??
 
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#2 ·
Either the battery is failing (which can be intermittent), or there is a poor connection at battery post (which can be intermittent), or there is a poor connection between the 3 cables that join at the positive jump post. What’s the voltage between +12 volts and ground with starting load applied? A weak/bad battery will drop from 12.8 volts no load to 6 or 8 volts when starter current is flowing. A bad cable connection (loose or corroded) can drop several volts (and get hot from concentrated I^2xR loss). 12.8 volts with no load only tells you part of the story. See if you can discover a point of voltage drop when starter current is flowing either across the battery itself or at any connection point along ground or pos. voltage path. Since it starts with a jump applied at the positive jump post, if the problem is in the pos. voltage side, the connection at the starter is OK. Same can be said of ground side (problem between where you’re attaching jumpers cables and battery post) - or, again, battery itself is bad.

Wouldn’t be bad to confirm 13.5 to 14.5 at battery with engine running to verify alternator is charging. Any battery acid residue creeping crud on top of battery and around battery posts and terminals?
 
#3 ·
Thanks for getting back. IT IS FIXED. I knew it had to be a ground issue. So I pulled the airbox reached back with a jumper cable and hooked to the remote ground. Immediately had power started right up with no flashing or issue. Checked the negative terminal it was tight and cleaned the positive on the battery. I decided to replace the negative cable even though it looked good. When I had a new battery put on it at Advance the negative terminal broke so I bought a new one and he put it on. When I pulled the old cable the new terminal fell off the cable....ugghh. Problem solved...lol half pissed and happy at the same time.
 
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