79 fj40 march production. Battery reads just over 12v, will start and run sometimes but here is the intermittent problem. Turn key and hear single click and then nothing. I try headlights and they won't come on but radio and dome light come on. Check volts and bat and starter bolt fine. Can try again in a few days and it will be fine and start so not a dead bat. Thanks for help.
Elec problem (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter MattMud
- Start date
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Start by checking your grounds. Battery to frame. Frame to engine. Etc. Make sure there is no corrosion or rust built up.
This sounds like a ground issue--Read (Claudia)
Batt voltage ought to be higher than 12V--maybe 13?-fully charged.(but I don't think this would show up as what you are seeing)
How do the Batt terminals look?
This could be a lot of things--pull all the fuses out of the block and clean all the contacts.
Batt voltage ought to be higher than 12V--maybe 13?-fully charged.(but I don't think this would show up as what you are seeing)
How do the Batt terminals look?
This could be a lot of things--pull all the fuses out of the block and clean all the contacts.
Ditto. 12v is too low for a fully charged battery. Get a charger and get it recharged until it reads 12.6 when disconnected from everything.
Then check all of the battery and ground cables. It's likely one is bad or loose.
Then check all of the battery and ground cables. It's likely one is bad or loose.
- Thread starter
- #5
Thanks for the help. Replaced the bat to frame cable and wire brushed frame for good metal. I'll do rest of suggestions as good measure but here's something weird. After new bat negative, I pull light switch and lights dont come on for about two seconds. Then, I turn ignition to crank engine and hear one click and lights go off and all is dead. Push light off and pull on again with same lag and engine does turn over. Thanks for input.
Did you charge the battery as suggested? A low battery, just as like a bad cable, can cause weird symptoms.
Start by fixing the known bad things.
Start by fixing the known bad things.
It's not the battery. If it was, it wouldn't start intermittently.
The grounds should be correct after all your work. A delay on the headlights sounds like a weak positive connection that is sparking and finally making a connection. I don't think the ignition switch has anything to do with the headlights. You might want to disconnect the battery, pull the two 10mm bolts on the fuse panel and see how things look on the back of the panel. The main wire that supplies power to everything goes into the back of the fuse panel. Make sure every wire is making a good connection, especially the heavy wires. While you have it off, use a rifle cleaning stainless bore brush to clean the inside of each fuse holder. It the fuse clips are loose, bend them in so the fuse is held securely. Report back after this.
The grounds should be correct after all your work. A delay on the headlights sounds like a weak positive connection that is sparking and finally making a connection. I don't think the ignition switch has anything to do with the headlights. You might want to disconnect the battery, pull the two 10mm bolts on the fuse panel and see how things look on the back of the panel. The main wire that supplies power to everything goes into the back of the fuse panel. Make sure every wire is making a good connection, especially the heavy wires. While you have it off, use a rifle cleaning stainless bore brush to clean the inside of each fuse holder. It the fuse clips are loose, bend them in so the fuse is held securely. Report back after this.
On my '79 intermittently losing most things that come of from the key-recently-theres a large plug behind the glovebox above the heater duct I had to remove-maybe 4 large ga wires-one had corroded in the connection-got hot etc-lost connection. wired around plug entirely. Was very intermittent-not fun at -10f plowing snow.
