SC died while driving?

American Muscle

Registered User
Ok so I was going to town today and the car just died. first the radio cut out and then the car just died. So i came to a stop on the shoulder and thought right off the bat that it was maybe an alternator. But the Alternator never made any noise or voltage drop of any sort to let me know it was going bad. I was able to leave the flashers on and when i turn the key dash lights still come on and headlights work. Now when i turn the key to the on position i dont hear the fuel pump buzzing like i have in other cars its just a brief one second (BRRR) and thats it should i be able to hear it with the key in just the on position or no? So is the fuel pump shot or should i look else where. Oh the car is a 92 SC with a manual, not sure if that matters. Oh also the car will not even crank when i turn the key all the way.
 
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i'd say start with getting the battery & charging system tested, check your fuses & look for any damaged wires etc.
 
ok i just checked the battery one of the terminals was a little loose. I tightened it and got the motor to crank for like a second then it was back to what it was doing before. Ill have to get a fluke meter from work tomorrow and check the battery and fuses. where is the fuel rail to check and see if it is getting fuel? My garage isnt the best lit so i cant really seen anything below the supercharger right now.
 
deff sounds like your nor getting power to the starter but that wont explain why it just died unless maybe your alt is bad and it ran off the batt till it killed it.
 
I would think your battery light would come on if the alternator was bad or just totally stopped charging, but not always. On one of my cars the alternator was only able to take a load of 15-20 amps. That was enough to run the car but I could see on the battery gauge for a couple weeks that it just didn't look quite normal, especially at night. With that said, my crappy alternator took out my battery also, my guess being that it was not charging the battery correctly for a while.

Let us know what you find

chris
 
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well i havent been able to get the meter yet, but it did start this morning and ran ok for about 10-15 seconds then my antilock light came on and check engine light came on and it started idling really ruff. The tac didnt work when i gave it a little gas and finally it just died.
 
My2 cents worth"

Check the battery cables connectoins at the engine block and at the starter.If that cks ok look at the ignition sw that is mounted on the steering colum.
 
Try this!

well i havent been able to get the meter yet, but it did start this morning and ran ok for about 10-15 seconds then my antilock light came on and check engine light came on and it started idling really ruff. The tac didnt work when i gave it a little gas and finally it just died.
Check the harmonic balancer see if the crank bolt is still in there? If so, see if you can turn the crankshaft pulley grasp it with your hands to see if it rotates back and forth.The stock HB's are crap and can break unexpectantly leaving you by the side of the road.
 
The tach not working might be a sign of bad cam position sensor. It's a long shot, but you can unplug and it might take seven or eight tries to get it to crank, as the eec is searching for the order to fire the injectors on. If it cranks and runs like this, the sensor could be bad. Just a thought.
 
Could someone tell me or show me where all the factory grounds are? Since ill be checking all of them i will just do all the grounds and clean and tighten everything.
 
Before you spend a lot of time guessing, do something simple. Clean the battery posts and terminals with steel wool, reattach and tighten securely. Not overtight, snug to where you can't twist them on the posts by hand is good enough. Take the caps off the battery and check that there is enough electrolyte in all 6 cells. Fill to the bottom of the hole with distilled water if needed.

Next, get a trickle charger (1-2 amps) and charge the battery for at least 24 hours. Go buy a $2 battery tester (bulb type) from any parts store. Check each of the cells.

After that, you need to check the battery voltage. Borrow or buy a voltmeter and check that you are getting at least 14Volts across the battery terminals with the engine running. Then check back here with the results. :cool:
 
Given the fact that it works intermittantly, the radio, starter and fuel pump are cutting out as well as erratic engine operation, the most likely cause of your problem is a bad ground connection. Check through all your ground connections to the block and frame, and check contiuity through the wire back to the battery.
 
ok clean batt terminals now charge battery. turn ignition switch to on position but dont start if auto put in park if stick make sure its in neutral.

now use a screwdriver or any methode of crossing power from positive side of solinoid on wheelwell to the small pin with wire attached to it shoud be red .

if it cranks but dont with key it is either key switch or neutral safty switch.

if it crankls and starts fine its somewhere else .
if it starts but is draging then maybe the starter brushes are bad,

you say the headlights come on stroing so battery is sort of out of ? question.

so now we have a good battery it cranks by jumping it it dont by key well we fix the ignition switch under dash if that is good we look at neutral safty switch on tranny or clutch peddle . if they check out then we look at the heavens and ask god.

it should be something easy always is . loose batt cables loose starter dirty or oily starter bad solinoid, bad ignition switch , unpluged tranny switch or clutch on lower dash under heater at cd player on such models there is a connector that controls the neatral safty switch its right at the dash and consol it can come loose hell yoiu can even start it from there.

also do you have a alarm does it kill ign ition? if so disarm it and pull the fuse so it cant come back on if it stays running then replace the alarm
 
Next, get a trickle charger (1-2 amps) and charge the battery for at least 24 hours. Go buy a $2 battery tester (bulb type) from any parts store. Check each of the cells.

After that, you need to check the battery voltage. Borrow or buy a voltmeter and check that you are getting at least 14Volts across the battery terminals with the engine running. Then check back here with the results. :cool:

or get the battery/car to a Checkers if possible they should have a handheld battery/charging system tester, if the battery is low they can charge it too for free and it would take it up to an hour. they can also test the alternator too but it would need to be taken off the vehicle for it to be tested by itself
 
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Ok, we checked the battery first and it read 11.4 volts we cranked the motor and checked the battery and the volts dropped to 8.3 (If I remember right its not suppose to drop below 9.5? correct me if im wrong). I will have the battery serviced and see if it will hold under a load. I will check the grounds when I can get some time off work and its day light as my garage doesnt have the best of lighting. As for my CD player. is there another fuse panel besides the one right behind the battery? That sucker will not turn on at all.
 
Factory CD player? There might be a fuse in the power wire behind the dash.

Now folks, what is being described here is classic alternator failure. Just because you don't see a batt light doesn't mean the alt didn't fail. Most ford alts can fail internally such that the batt light doesn't get tripped.

The loose battery connection may have put too much of a load on the alternator causing the regulator circuit to burn out. Charge that battery up fully, a low power charge over night works best as you are less likely to burn off the electrolyte.

Once it's charged up, start the car. Check the voltage at the battery, you'll probably find it at 11.8 and dropping slowly. If the alt is working it should be at 13.8. If the car doesn't start with a fully charged battery, does it crank quickly, or crank slowly. A slow crank could indicate a poor quality connection at the starter, or damaged cable, or failing starter.
 
thanks for the help guys. I charged the battery all day yesterday and th sc started right up. Ill have to go through all the grounds and check the starter and alt. this weekend so i can find out what caused the battery to die in the first place.
 
When the car is running, it's running off the alternator, so something other than the battery being weak or bad made it shut off. Go over it carefully or it could die like that again. Good luck.
 
thanks for the help guys. I charged the battery all day yesterday and th sc started right up. Ill have to go through all the grounds and check the starter and alt. this weekend so i can find out what caused the battery to die in the first place.

Check the voltage with car running....if your not seeing a couple volts more than when the motor is off, it's most likely your alternator. The car will run quite a while on a strong battery, so don't be fooled by it.

David
 
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