electrical woes (1 Viewer)

[lehigh80]

Hey, I have a 1994 fzj80 and I've recently run into some electrical problems. Every once and a while when I would go to start the truck the power would cut out. It thought it could be the battery connections, so I cleaned them up, but I still had the same problems. The Truck would not have enough juice to run anything after the first start attempt. However, if I disconnected the battery completely and reconnected it, it would start right up and run fine.

Today when I went to start it, the truck did the same thing, turn the key to on, everything is fine, then turn to start and the power would cut out immediately, as if it was pulling too many amps. However, after disconnecting the battery and reconnecting it, it would not start. It did the same thing again and again. So I thought maybe the battery was dead. I jumped the truck, but same thing happened, no power when trying to start.

I've searched the forums and I havn't found anything relevent to my problem, unless I just missed it completely so forgive me if i'm asking this question again. Anyone have an idea as to whats happening?

Many thanks, Bill

 

[TX_TLC]

So when you turn the key to start nothing happens? No click nothing...do you loose power other places i.e. does the stereo cut out when you turn the key to start?

Sorry I don't fully understand what you are asking...

How many miles? Ever replaced the starter contacts? If it is just not starting it kinda (from what I can gather from yoru description) sounds like starter contacts. Search there is a ton of info. And...it is also not something to put off...they have been known to start engine fires.

Have you ever had it start then, have the starter keep running?

 

[lehigh80]

When i put the key in the start position the starter clicks and all the power to everything is cut off, no voltage at all. When this happens there is no longer any voltage to power lights, radio, basically any accesory. The truck has 150,000 miles on it, and i seem to remember back when the truck had about 116000 miles on it where the starter did keep running. It never did this again.

I'll read up on the starter contact issue as I don't remember having changed the contacts. Just seems like an odd situation. Thanks for the help.

-Bill

 

[skyshark186]

Seems like an electrical dump somewhere to me. Especially if no components will run. Try making sure you have good grounds and all your fuses are good. For some reason I had one that was burned on the pegs in my old bronco and it had similar problems. It never blew the fuse but when I put a new one in it worked fine. Dont remember which fuse it was. Probably not your problem, but its cheap/free to find out.

 

[lehigh80]

After looking around for problems with grounds and the connections to the starter while the battery was disconnected and not really finding anything out of the ordinary, I reconnected the batter and the truck started right up. This is perplexing me. I know that the problem will occur again sometime soon, and I can't really diagnose the problem untill this happens. So I guess I'm on some kinda hiatus untill this thing occurs again.

I checked all my fuses, and they are all fine, nothing blown. I was thinking maybe a relay is going bad? Is this possible?

Thanks for the reply's, Bill

 

[dfmorse]

Kinks in fuse links

Lehigh;

Check the fuse links, they can be flakey . How old is battery and what kind is it?

The fuse links have been known to kink, giving a poor connection. Once he engine kicks over, the vibration separates the link (MAIN) and the computer is down, etc.

...

 

[Beowulf]

Bill,
If your truck has 150k and hasn't had the starter contacts replaced then this is the likely cause based on the symptoms you are reporting. Be aware that this needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. Today would be good.

If your starter is in good shape then my next guess would be the negative battery cable. Next would be the positive battery cable or perhaps, a flaky fusible link.

Keep us posted.

-B-

 

[Tools R Us]

Sounds like a bad connection at the battery, thoroughly clean the cable connections at the terminals and where the wires bolt to the battery connectors.

 

[lehigh80]

Thanks for the reply's guys. I can't look at the truck tonight as I'm swamped with university work. But I'll definately look at the truck tomorrow after class. I'll keep you guys posted.

Again thanks a lot, Bill

 

[psfpilot]

Bill,

Could it be a bad battery? I've seen a high quality (but abused) red-top Optima* blow a race for a formula electric car team because it had an internal fault that prevented it from passing sufficient current at high draw (such as your starter), yet was a good enough circuit to be undectable by an ohmmeter. You could try a brief swap with another battery of known sufficient cranking amperage and eliminate this outside possibility.

*BTW- I'm not trying to smear Optima--said battery was heavily battered (run in series, repeatedly drained in under 10 minutes, and handled quite roughly by pit crews during pit stop quick-changes).

 

[Truckasaurus]

Bill,

Does the power to all the accessories cut out in the "RUN" position, or the "START" position? If in "RUN" thats bad. If in "START" thats good. Supposed to kill power to everything except the starter. Give all the juice to the one place that needs it. Thus, do all the normal things you're supposed to do, like clean terminals, good connections, check the headlight dimming during cranking, then start replacing fuses and batteries and bits