Intermittent Electrical Issues

[awkragt]

I've got some intermittent electrical issues and I'm trying to find the common link and fix it. These all started around 4 weeks ago, but don't occur at the same time.

Problem 1: Heat/A/C blower doesn't work sometimes. Just the blower will not work, can usually be corrected by restarting vehicle. Tried climate controls troubleshooter and got the OK code. Frequency 1/10 starts.

Problem 2: Car takes 3+ tries to start. Turns over just fine. Seems like no explosion happening. Frequency 1/5 starts.

Problem 3: Clock is off when getting in vehicle. Always when left overnight. Frequency 2/7 days of the week.

Problem 4: When slowing from cruise control at 45mph, vehicle died. I coasted into the parking lot we were stopping at. It restarted fine immediately after. Frequency 1 single time.

Problem 5: Door unlock did not work. My FOB never works but this is where you unlock the passenger and it unlocks all of them normally. I had to go to each door to unlock it with the key. Got in vehicle, started fine. Frequency 1 single time.

So far to troubleshoot:
Cleaned contacts on battery terminal.
Cleaned some contacts in the fuse box, but everything looked good to begin with.

Other info: I have a Sears Diehard Group 31, only 2 years old. Vehicle is a 98 with manual heating and cooling controls, LED interior lights, and we use a fridge for road trips and camping, but those times are not when the problems have occurred 244K miles.

 

[TXLX100]

Has it had the windshield replaced?

Check the fusible links (big ones) by the battery, and the battery ground cable and where it's grounded very closely.

I had same problem with AC, just needed a new blower.

 

[awkragt]

Update: I replaced the alternator with a re-manufactured 100 amp unit. This seemed to respond much quicker to the voltage drop with the lights. However problems 2, 3, and 5 still occurring intermittently.

Today I managed to catch the door lock issue in the driveway. I grabbed to volt meter and read a voltage of 2.5 volts on the battery, yes 2.5 volts. I went to unhook/isolate the battery and immediately the voltage jumped back to a perfect 12.5 volts before I even had it unhooked. I think I've got a bad cell in the battery. I can't imagine a short in the system or load on the battery so high that would drop it to 2.5 volts without causing a fire right?

I still can't figure out how a battery could be broken enough to sometimes read 2.5 volts, but still start the vehicle every single time. Just doesn't make sense. I live about an hour away from the nearest sears that I can return this battery to. Does this sound like a bad battery or some sort of parasitic drain on the system?

 

[Sandroad]

Well that's just weird. From the symptoms so far, I would not have guessed battery. But if you had even a brief reading of 2.5 volts and nothing external was hot, I'd start by replacing the battery. I had a fairly new Diehard Platinum group 31 die in my '04 for no good reason, so it does happen.

 

[TeCKis300]

It's not a short, cause like you said, really bad things would be happening to get the batt voltage down that low. Definitely a faulty electrical connection somewhere - even within the battery like your suspecting. When you read the 2.5V, was it batt terminal to batt terminal? Or were you reading + batt terminal to chassis?

Keep using that voltmeter to isolate where that bad link is. If you did read that 2.5V batt terminal to terminal, I would def replace the battery. The car starts cause once you ask for enough current, wherever that bad connection is, is arcing enough to bridge the it. Low current draws will likely show more and more resistance.

 

[awkragt]

The 2.5 volts was terminal to terminal.

So I took it to Sears and got it replaced today. It failed on their tester machine saving me the hassle of explaining the intermittent failure. So fingers crossed the battery was the problem.

 

[TheForger]

I've had a few issues of my own ever since I sank my hundy. Now if I leave the radio on when I kill the engine, the radio flashes on and off about once every 4 seconds. It doesn't play sound like this but the display shows up briefly (for about 1/4 of a second). It has been enough to drain my battery when left parked over the weekend. Any thoughts on what might be causing this? I don't mean to hijack your thread but this has really been messing with my OCD!

 

[awkragt]

If the radio itself was submerged, you probably should just replace the radio. If not I'd look into the wire that feeds the radio the hot signal when the vehicle is on. I'm not sure how to find and check that wire but that's were I'd go. Make sure the radio isn't getting a false on signal every 4 second.