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So, I was about to drive off to school around 11:00 AM this morning, when I got my lovely 1984 244 a whole ten to twenty feet down the road when all of a sudden the engine stalled. After stopping the car, I tried to start it again, finding that as long as I had tried, while the engine would turn over, nothing else would happen. I opened the hood to find a fuse (rated at 30 amps), previously mounted in a white plastic holder bolted to somewhere near the strut tower on the driver side attached about a foot or so from the battery literally...melted. The plastic in both the holder and the fuse had bubbled and distorted. My attempt to remove the fuse resulted in the inner section pouring out ash, something I've never once seen a blade fuse do. To say the least, I was pretty sure my car wasn't going to make it up to school again. The only thoughts that had crossed my mind at the time were, pardon my french, "Le Fuck!" Being as I was already on my way to join a small convoy up to school, I decided to abandon my car on the street and have it towed, and join my friends for a ride. (though, upon looking back, I really should have thought about it and given the keys to someone. It's sitting there locked and parked. Whoops! Priority Mail, here I come!)
Now, some backstory. I drove back home from Rochester, NY this last friday (a 350-400 mile trip), pulling...efficient speeds the entire time. Didn't have any problems I can think of, and made it back in pretty good time considering the traffic. Anyway, after a few days, a problem with the driver side headlight suddenly began. I'd have to tug the connector on occasion to get the light to get current. My assumption was that something was shaken loose by the trip down, and once I'd get back to school, I'd tear the assembly apart and fix it. That was problem one. Problem two was also headlight related in a manner. I found that, around this last thursday and until saturday night, that every so often, extra power draw was causing the headlights and other equipment to flicker. I was thinking maybe the battery was going, or something, up until the following happened. I found that while driving, were I to tap the brakes, my headlights would just flicker for a fraction of a second and recover. It was no more than 1/20th of a second, but it was noticable. The problem only worsened, where even the turn signals were affected. Upon first engaging any of the signals, the headlights would flicker, just for a fraction of a second like earlier, but only once. It was still noticable.
Eventually, this became worse on friday night where upon pressing the brake pedal, my cd player, plugged into the cigarette lighter, shut off abruptly and overdrive dropped out. I wasn't doing anything more than wandering around aimlessly, exploring my hometown, so I pulled over and started fiddling. As soon as I went to investigate, everything magically healed itself, and nothing happened when I tried to troubleshoot. That process was repeated for some time, to no avail. Eventually, I got home and was able to examine my battery. Apparently, it had developed a lot of corrosion since I last checked it prior my trip down the previous friday, so I cleaned the contacts that night (saturday), and found that the lights were suddenly a good deal brighter with the car engine off. After the fix, the power problems seemed to be gone. I was able to drive the car around for a good hour and a half without a single issue, and generally had a good, relaxing time. Fast forward ten hours. I leave the driveway after letting the car idle for a minute or two, headlights off, and all of a sudden the fuse blows as described above. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!
edit: Also to note, before I left, my father and I ran through a general fluids check. If everything was ok and whatnot. I know at least a few drops of oil were left on the driver's side of the engine, but am unsure if any might have gotten in the fuse, and if it did, what would happen. All caps and covers were confirmed as being properly sealed after the failure, so a missing/unscrewed cover was not the issue.
My only thoughts are something maybe in the alternator. My assumption for a while was that the rochester winter combined with rediculously short drives (two to four trips per day under five minutes each, mainly to avoid the frickin' freezing cold and save 25 minutes of walking in said frickin' freezing cold). With that being the general case for some seven or eight weeks, you can see that it's just a little bit hard on a battery ;) But, after cleaning the connections, things seem far improved.
So, yeah. I'm now back at school, without a car until mid-april (which isn't bad now that the cold has moved on, though I'm once again apartment bound) but what I really want to know is just...what in the almighty hell happened here?
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Proud owner of a 1984 240 DL, Jaguar Performance Green
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