Power failure again
It's been at least eight months since this happened, but this past weekend I drove the old '48 Commodore Six close to over a hundred miles and she ran great. I cranked her up Monday and she cut off on me twice before I got out of the driveway and once before I got out of the neighborhood. Same thing she was doing before, just a power failure that only lasted for a few seconds, then it would come back on. Cleaned off the ground cable and it seemed to be working fine, but then quit on the trip out of the neighborhood. I know it's electrical, but how do I chase it down. I don't know how to use a voltometer, but am willing to try to learn.
Jason
Jason
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Comments
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There Is A 30 AMP.Relay Under The Dash That Will Reset Itself After About 10 Seconds I Would Check There First It Sounds Like You Have A Short Somewhere0
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There is a 30A main breaker mounted on the steering column support behind the dash it could be bad. Also check the the power wire inside your distributor that goes from the coil wire to your points. May sure there is not a bare/worn spot where it can go to ground against the distributor housing0
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I think I may have found it. I switched over to twelve volts a few years back using a generator & a voltage regulator. I put a starter solenoid on the fender and ran a wire to the batt terminal on the voltage regulator. This wire seems to be the problem as when I used a test light starting at the battery, this is where the problem of no current first surfaced. I have bent it and cleaned off the terminal to it and the car cranks and runs fine. I'm going to replace it as I'm afraid that it apparently fails when it gets hot. It could be something else, but this is a good place to start.0
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It would be a good idea to replace with a heavier gauge wire if your existing one is heating up in use. Also make sure that whatever terminals you are using are crimped properly so as to not create any additional resistance.
Tom Drew0 -
What do you think about using an in-line fuse in this line? Both Auto Zone & Advance Auto have one that I find promising. The only setback is that they both use 12 gauge wire and I'm already using a 10 gauge wire. I think the problem was the wire was not crimped properly (I tried making another one last night and it worked lousier than the one I have in there now).0
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Jason, please answer the below questions to help diagnose your problem.
When you switched to 12 volts:
-Did you have the generator rewound for 12 volts?
-Did you convert to negative ground?
-Did you install a new voltage regulator and if so, is it the correct polarity for your system? You must have a positive ground regulator for a positive ground system and a negative ground regulator for a negative ground system.
-Was the new generator 'polarized' when it was installed?
-How long is the wire (must be 10 gauge or heavier) going from the starter solenoid to the regulator Batt terminal, and, do you know for sure that this wire is getting hot in use?
Also, check the other wire attached to the regulator Batt terminal. It should go from the regulator to the horn relay and continue on to the main circuit breaker under the dash. Make sure these connections are good and make sure the insulation on these wires is good so they will not short on the frame or body. (These wires should be 10 gauge or heavier)
Tom Drew0 -
Tom:
Thanks for trying to help out. The answers to your questions are:
-Yes, the generator was rewound for 12 volts.
-Yes, I converted to negative ground.
-A new voltage regulator was installed and both it and the generator were polarized for 12 volts negative ground.
-The wire going to starter solenoid to the voltage regulator is about 4 or 5 inches long.
Not only are the other wires going to the batt terminal going to the horn relay, the fuse box (I replaced the circuit breaker with a fuse box from JC Whitney), but also to relays for the headlights and a another line for my overdrive switch under the dash. This system has worked well for at least three years. It just started the power failure thing last summer. It's done it three times since, the worst being last Sunday. As far as the wire in quetion getting hot is concerned, I never checked it after the car shut down. I will do that in a mintue.
Jason0 -
If a wire is getting hot it is either overloaded, or there is a loose terminal. Personally I never use crimping alone. When I terminate a wire I first of all insert a short length of shrink tube over the wire, then use a good quality brass terminal, crimp it using a proper tool, and solder as well. Then slip the shrink tubing up the wire and over the shank of the terminal and with a small gas lighter flame, shrink it on. Makes a neat and reliable job, and much better than the universal crimp terminals you buy at automotive shops. The cheap and nasty wire strip and crimp pliers that come in these kits are useless for making a proper permanent and neat job.
Geoff0 -
Jason,
Thanks for the detailed answers to my questions. This leads to more questions:
-What is the age/condition of the coil? Replaced when you switched to 12 volts? Internally resisted coil or separate ballast resistor?
-When the car cuts off, is everything electrical going dead? Headlights? Radio? Or does just the engine stop?
I'm wondering if there is an intermittent short in the ignition system wiring or a faulty coil.
Wires you should check for good connection and/or shorts:
-Ignition switch feed from your fusebox to batt terminal on ignition switch
-Ignition switch to coil
-coil to distributor (primary & secondary)
Please check these things and let us know what you find.
P.S. I heartily endorse Geoff's remarks above regarding the importance of proper terminals and how to accomplish same. Sage advice as usual from the southern hemisphere!
Tom Drew0 -
I put an internally resisting coil on the car when I switched over to 12 volts. When the car cuts off, everything goes dead: lights, radio, dash lights, everything. When I checked the wire from the solenoid to the voltage regulator, it did have a loose connection. I replaced it with a new one built to Geoff's specs. How I check the other feeds you mentioned? I.e with the engine running through the use of a test light or how?
Jason0 -
Jason,
If everything goes dead when you experience this power failure, it indicates that a main power feed is either shorting or losing good connection on an intermittent basis. Since you have updated to a fuse panel to replace the original circuit breaker, it seems that if it was a short, you would be blowing fuses in your panel. Based on everything we've dissused so far, I think you've found the culprit in the loose connection in the wire that connects the starter solenoid to the regulator Batt terminal. This is, according to the wiring diagram, the main power feed from the battery to everything else that gets battery power downstream! So it would make sense that a bad connection here would kill all power. Also, I'm assuming that when you installed the fuse panel, you ran its battery feed from the regulator Batt terminal, so make sure the connections are solid on this wire as well.
If you just had the engine die, while retaining power to lights, radio, etc.,
then that's when I'd suspect the ignition circuit, and that's why I mentioned in the last post about checking those specific wires.
It's still not a bad idea to check the condition of those wires in the spirit of preventative mantainence, especially if those wires are the original cotton insulated type. The best way to do this is just visually inspect the connections, dissasemble, clean and retighten if necessary, and make sure the insulation is intact to prevent shorts.
Hope this gets you back on the road with confidence!
Tom Drew0 -
Thanks Tom:
I think you're right. I drove the car all over town today without missing a beat. Hopefully the fix will maintain.
Jason0 -
You're welcome, Jason. Seems like you've got a solid fix to the problem. Now if only the Pistons (that's the Detroit Pistons) had beat Miami tonight, everything would be right with the world!
Tom Drew0
This discussion has been closed.
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