Won second place at Rodeo Dr than car loses all electrical power

Alternator fuse on the engine compartment bulkhead might have a dirty connection, running your battery down, but when the engine runs strong the alternator supplies the juice to run.
It is located in the Engine compartment, on the forward wall, right hand side. It is a small black box 3"x4" and holds two fuses - a normal 8 amp fuse and a REALLY big 60 Amp "Blade" fuse. Clean the fuse, the contacts and the wires coming in and exiting the box.

Disconnect the battery from the electrical system, put it on a charger and I'll bet it takes a long time to get it back up to full.

PS - congrats on the win, that is a tough crowd to compete in.
I've seen the competition there.

 

Congrats on the award, I may have taken a pic of your car while I was there. Which color/one was yours?

You can do what synchro advised. As a general approach, I'd check battery cables & connectors, especially ground. There's also a possibility you could have a problem with the battery itself. Good luck.

 

Similar discussion on Tom Yang's site ( www.tomyang.net ). it ended up being a poor battery terminal connection.


Regards,

Art S.

 

It's not a battery terminal if the car dies while running. That will fry the VR in the alternator but won't stop the car until the alternator is fried. Yours seems fine by what you said, but meter the battery when off, and while running anyway. You should get about 12 volts off, 13.5 when running.

I think it's an ignition problem. Keep a meter with the car so next time it dies you'll make quick work of where the fault lies. It may not be possible when it's working unless you physically find a bad connection. Start at the keyswitch.

Ken

 

What kind of ignition system are you using?

If you have a Dinoplex, I'd suspect that might be part of the problem.

dm

 

I don't know if the Dino has an ignition wiring arrangement similar to a 1968 thru 1971 365, but I had a similar "complete electrical failure" experience several years ago. This is all from memory but, right next to the 2 fuse panels, there is a 4-post bakelite terminal where several of the heavier gauge ignition wires meet (from memory, the line from the ignition switch itself, the starter relay and 2 others). The terminal had been thru so many heat/cool down cycles that it had finally developed a hairline crack going completely through the terminal. You couldn't see it unless you were staring at it w/ a flashlight - the crack would intermittently open up (because of heat, or bumps, etc.) enough to kill everything that was running off of any of the 1, 2 or 3 key positions. Because it was intermittent, it was a nightmare to find.

My car is too early for Dinoplex, so I agree w/ Dave, that is also a suspect.

 

I had the same intermittant problem on my Dino a few years back. It drove me nuts along with my mechanic and it finally happened at his shop.
It was the ampmeter. All of the current from the battery to the starter goes throught the ampmeter and when it starts to fail it will cause this problem.
Take it out and send it to Palo Alto Sedometer, they can fix it.
Cheers,
Mark

 

If the amp meter is the problem, couldn't you just bypass it to determine that?

IF it tests bad, then send it out.

Dave

 

My ignition would cut out unpredictibly. Turned out to be a gone bad MSD. Replaced MSD and now all better. But this should not affect all electicals.

If it were weak battery then car would not start again and again after dying (completely dead battery ) and continue to drive with a bad alternator.

I don't think the dash ampmeter gets all the voltage, it has a secondary wire for metering purposes. Could it be the voltage regulator that's the problem?

let us know how it turns out.
Zannos

 

A great deal of discussion, and some misinformation.

First, ALL current flows through the amp meter. All. If you take the leads off of the amp meter, there will be no current to the main electrical bus, with the exception of the heavy wire that runs from the + terminal of the battery to the starter, bypassing the amp meter.

Second, the fuse on the firewall connects the output of the alternator to the battery. If that fuse fails, then the battery will not charge. However, the existing charge on the battery will allow the car to run for a while.

Third, the ceramic block on the relay board, if cracked, will not cause a problem. There are copper jumpers connecting all four (4) terminals of that block. The plastic is simply a backbone to mount the wires in.

Hence, if there is total electrical power failure (as opposed to simply ignition failure), it stems from A) amp meter disconnect or B) loose + or ground terminal on the battery. No other electrical event will cause the car to lose ALL electrical power.

Jim S.

 

Sal, my advice is worth what you pay for it.

Heat will not cause your symptom. I suspect that you have loose connections at your amp meter, or at your battery terminal. Another cause, consistent with your symptoms and with my prior post, is that your main power bus, leading to the 4-terminal connector on the relay board has a loose connection on the main large red wire, which should be the lower forward position on the square block. I would check all of the wires entering the block, and snug down all the screws. There is a bare wire that connects the two sides (upper and lower) of the terminal block (the brown plastic block on the relay board. All of the wires, red and white, are connected in common. Those entering from the forward and rear aspect at the same up/down level are connected in common. The up and down level are connected in common with a bare-wire jumper. Check that the bare wire connector has integrity.

Have fun.

Jim S.