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dying, hard start lots of lights 850

posted by  someone claiming to be Molly on  Mon Dec 8 08:57 CST 2014 [RELATED]

Hey guys-

My 1996 850 T-5 wagon died while driving yesterday. I was able to pull it to the slide of the road. I couldn't start the car and the ABS, SRS, check engine, and yellow arrow lights were all on. After about 10 min, I was able to start the car (the ABS, SRS, etc. lights stayed on) and drive it home. It drove horrible, no power and it felt like it wanted to kill the whole way. I charged the battery with a battery charger and the car started great and no lights, but after a couple of minutes the idiot lights came back and the car handled/drove horribly.

Other symptoms that have been occurring over the past couple of weeks: A) the FM radio works intermittently, b) sometimes the key is hard to remove from the ignition (I have to jiggle the shift), c) the ABS light has been staying on longer than normal (~5-10 sec) when I start the car after it has been sitting (it does eventually turn off), and finally, d) the car revs very high on start.

Other than all of that it drives and handles great!

Thank you for the help

Molly








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    dying, hard start lots of lights 850

    posted by  someone claiming to be Molly on  Wed Dec 10 16:51 CST 2014 [RELATED]

    Found the problem. The red and white wire going to the alternator corroded and shear into two.

    Thanks again







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      dying, hard start lots of lights 850

      posted by  alschnertz on  Thu Dec 11 11:19 CST 2014
      Author: [PROFILE] [EVERY POST] [THREADS] [BEST POSTS] RSS Feed     [IGNORE ALL POSTS]
      last visit: Fri Oct 24 10:32 CST 2014
      [RELATED]

      Thank you for posting your results.
      --
      "Differences of opinions should be tolerated, but not if they're too different' - Sharon Craig








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    dying, hard start lots of lights 850

    posted by  B.B. on  Mon Dec 8 23:03 CST 2014
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    last visit: Mon Oct 6 13:15 CST 2014
    [RELATED]

    Hi Molly,

    Good advice from the other brickies
    You just measure about 12.6VDC on the battery with the engine stopped
    and about 14 VDC with the engine running. If the battery has a dead cell
    you start seeing low volts 10.5, 8.4 depending on how many cells are shorted out.
    The 14 is testing the charging voltage of the alternator at the battery.
    If you can take a screwdriver and carefully pry the battery cell covers off,
    check to see if the electrolyte (Liquid) is covering the plates. If you can see
    the plates then refill with ONLY distilled water that you find cheap at any drugstore. The battery will be junk if the electrolyte is down for too long.
    Hint: Too high a charge rate will boil off the water in the electrolyte
    Too high is above 14.1VDC

    One more important battery tip, Keep a charger on the battery, If a dead battery freezes it is ready to go to the recycle yard and they will pay scrap value, Maybe $5-10 for the lead and acid that both get reclaimed. Don't give away old batteries and dead cat converters! :-)

    The Key issue bothers me since the ignition switch is so heavily involved with
    the electrical system including the D+ wire to the alternator. If that fails
    the alternator stops charging. This item fools a lot of people into swapping out a good alternator.
    I'm not sure how hard it is to get a meter on the D+ at the alternator to verify. But it controls the alternator charging rate and MUST be working.

    It really helps to get a meter and carefully check things. Don't worry if you've never used a meter, read the directions and you'll be OK in minutes.
    One of those cheap Harbor Freight things for $5 would work. Sometimes they
    give them away free.

    Bill







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    dying, hard start lots of lights 850

    posted by  Herb Goltz on  Mon Dec 8 09:33 CST 2014
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    last visit: Fri Oct 24 13:23 CST 2014
    [RELATED]

    Time to check the charging system! Charge it up again, start it and measure across the battery terminals with a voltmeter. You need to see between 13.7-14.1VDC. Measure the voltage at the thick red wire on the alternator-- you should see 13.7-14.1V there too.

    Feel the battery cables after it has idled for a while-- do they get hot to the touch? Do a voltage drop test to determine if you have bad cables (check the B+ cable to the fuse box too.

    Take the battery out and have it load tested at an auto parts place. It's usually free.

    If your alternator is the problem, you can replace the voltage regulator/brush pack for far less than an alternator replacement (about $40).

    Report back with what you measure. Good luck!








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      dying, hard start lots of lights 850

      posted by  someone claiming to be Molly on  Mon Dec 8 18:30 CST 2014 [RELATED]

      Herb

      Thanks for the help. I am leaning toward a bad battery because mine is not holding a charge. I'll get it checked out this week.

      Thanks again--







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