PLEASE help, electrical problem

[Daniel Ogden]

Hi all, this is my first post on the board. This is gonna be long, and it's a tough one. I am completely stuck on this, any help would be MUCH appreciated. Just bought a 97 XLT pushrod 4.0 last week. Got it for $600 with a blown head gasket. Fixed the head gasket over the weekend and have been fine tuning and doing little fixes throughout the week. My last fix was the thermostat. I thought I was going to be done after that but as I was putting it in I had a SERIOUS electrical mishap.

Apparently I hadn't slipped the boot back on completely that goes over the end of the wire that runs into the back of the alternator(this is the one that actually gets afixed to the alternator with a nut). I am good with mechanical work, unless it involves electrical, I am not savvy with that at all, so please bear with me. Anyhow, the exposed part of the wire touched the alternator and by the time I figured out where it was shorting (about 4 seconds) the wire had melted completely apart (copper included). It melted right before where the power wire running out of the alternator bolts up to some plastic thing attached to the side of the engine bay on the driver's side.

I replaced the melted wires and reattached them. Everything appeared to power-up properly, dome lights, chime when the keys went in, idiot lights when the key was put to the on position. When I tried to turn it over everything went out, and stayed out. No dome light, no nothing. There was a intermittent clicking afterwards, one click about every 8-10 seconds. Sounded like it was coming from 2 places. First under the dash, around the steering column. Second, definitely coming from some sort of power box where the jack is stored in back. I started going through the engine to try and see if there was any other damaged wires. After some time (about 10 minutes) the clicking stopped and the dome came back on, etc. I again put the keys back in, got the chime and idiot lights, went to turn it over and everything went out. Clicking started again. This cycle repeated a few times and then I gave up for the night.

It seemed to me that this clicking/power-up cycle was timed. It is possible that it could have coincided with my rummaging around under the hood, or shutting the door hard or something like that. Maybe a loose connection, but it really seemed to me to be a timed thing, not to do with anything I was touching or moving.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, it is a bit lengthy. I am totally at a loss as what to do next, I would take it to a mechanic but I am a poor college student so I can't afford it. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

Dan

 

[Cobraguy]

This sounds like a loose ground or connection. But if you're not certain you have it wired correctly, go to a salvage yard and see if you can't get the harness you need and replace it completely. Also make sure no wiring was damaged elsewhere in the car.

 

[JoeMahma]

Try cleaning your battery terminals and maybe a different battery.

 

[CAHUNTERMAN]

Try cleaning your battery terminals and maybe a different battery.

X2 on checking battery connections and ground connection. Any time you have a serious short like that it can finish off any connection that was marginal before. It could have also shorted the battery internally.

 

[Daniel Ogden]

Thanks for the feedback. A couple quick questions. Where is the ground located? Is there any chance that I fried some electronics or is following wires all I have to do? Thanks again.

Dan

 

[budwich]

check your connections at your starter relay.... good chance they are also melted.

 

[CAHUNTERMAN]

Thanks for the feedback. A couple quick questions. Where is the ground located? Is there any chance that I fried some electronics or is following wires all I have to do? Thanks again.

Dan

On my 99 there are some grounds on the core support next to the battery and then the main one is down on the lower part of the block on the drivers side. Just follow the negative cable from the battery down. There is always a chance you fried something else but from the sound of it I think you might get lucky.

 

[Cobraguy]

Unfortunately, anytime you have damage like this, it can be extremely difficult to track everything down that was damaged. What can happen is you can have the offending circuit melt a wire that is next to another wire in a completely separate circuit. That new wire gets the insulation melted...and power takes on a whole new path of least resistance. It can just snowball on you. However, you can usually determine all damage by careful inspection and looking for any sign of overheated wires. They may not even be melted, but you can usually see if they've received heat. You may have to start opening up harnesses to inspect everything. All this is a worst case scenario. It's up to you how deep you want to go into everything. This is why it is so expensive to have a shop diagnose and repair these problems. It's hard to find a place to stop. Let's hope yours is only minor.

 

[Daniel Ogden]

ok so after fixing some melted wires I know have my theft light flashing with the clicking sound, any ideas?

 

[Daniel Ogden]

after pulling the underside dash panel the clicking is coming from a black box above the accelerator pedal. the power to the car seems to be hit or miss. the clicking is constant although the theft light only flashes when everything else powers up.

 

[my98nnj]

Have you checked the fuses, including the main fuse?

 

[Daniel Ogden]

Well after checking wires and fuses I got really fed up and smacked my battery terminals with my ratchet. Started right up . Thanks for all the help and input, it was a great help!

Dan

 

[Driveway2fast]

Well after checking wires and fuses I got really fed up and smacked my battery terminals with my ratchet. Started right up . Thanks for all the help and input, it was a great help!

Dan

Did the same thing with my wife, oh wait I'm divorced now.

J/k