No Power

[mrwinky]

Ill start from yesterday.

I picked my car up from the mechanic who just re-wired my gas system because the taxi person down in Sydney installation was playing up. On replacement the car was great; the ABS light no longer stays on and shows on start up. The problem was the thermo fans weren’t operating; I thought maybe the computer actually started to control them because before they were on when ever the car was started. So I left the car running on the spot with the bonnet down to see if they would come on, which they didn’t and the car was getting close to over heating, so I turned it off. I had a look around to see what could be going on, looked a fuses (both in car and in engine bay- ones near the battery) swap a few over but none were popped and still had the same problem. I didn’t have any test lamps to see if power was coming through to the fans so I just left it for today so I could drive it down the mechanic to test lamp the connections for me.

On attempting to drive it today, I jumped in and went to fire it up, the car turned over a few times but didn’t start so I stopped it turned it all the way off and tried to start it again, all the lights on the dash came on as usual but when I went to start the car I lost all power, no dash lights no interior lights nothing. I thought great checked out the main and battery fuse in the engine bay and all the fuses inside but all were perfectly fine I was confused I had a play around with the fuses and everything again but nothing happened, so I left it for a while and then came back and the interior light was on again, so I thought hmm maybe, I turned the ignition back on all the lights on the dash came back up with the looks like a reset thing on the odometer then went back to how many km's I've done after saying base or something. I thought everything was ok, so I went to start again and something tripped and I have no power again.

The car is an AU 98 falcon forte I6. I just want to get this car going so I can sell it, at the moment wreckers are looking good, been trying to get it working properly for the last few months with LPG being my main problem but now its not so I have more electrical problems which I don’t want to spend to much if any money on repairing.


Any help is much appreciated

Thanks Jono

[bodes-sh]

make sure the battery hasn't died, it may have enough power to turn on lights, but not enough to run the starter. also check the connections, it may have dropped a cell, then when you turn the key it dies, try a good working battery, or even try jumpstarting it and see how that goes

[robbo_yobbo]

Id definiteey go with the battery..... either flat, loose connections, or just dead! My AU is real picky with the electrics, even a normal jumpstart wont do the trick if the battery is flat on mine, it needed RAA's high voltage jumper pack to crank, despite powering everything else and showing the same symptoms youve described

[whiskers]

I would agree with robbo_yobbo check the battery, they can be fine one minute and had it the next, take the caps of all the cells and check the fluid level top them up with distilled water (boil the jug and let the water cool down) if needed. and then jump start your car.
hope this helps
whiskers

[mrwinky]

Thanks, i think its the battery, the battery in the car is new tho 2 weeks old. I left it over night and it turns on lights etc but the the odometer takes a while to load up which looks like the battery is flat and goes when i try to start it. Could be alternator i drove it for a bout 30mins the came back and yeah lasted 1 crank.

[bodes-sh]

you will either need to take it for a good couple of hours drive, or stick a charger on it overnight to charge it fully, then see how it goes. if no luck then, take it back to where you got it and get a new one or get it checked

[Mechan1k]

If it's althernator ... it will die while driving ... I know ... I had one fail .... the car came to a slow stop ... gauges went hay-wire ... and then died.

I'd say the battery has a dud cell in it ... can happen to new batteries

[GK]

If it's the alternator, the battery light on the dash should be on.

I had this happen on my car a while ago, new alternator, problem sorted.

GK