2000 Ford Taurus

[QueBert]

Had another thread a few weeks ago about a problem I was having with my Taurus, it turned out Pep Boys had sold me the wrong battery, a 56r my car takes a 36r. Had the battery switched and had the alternator tested, and it tested good.

I was in San Diego about 100 miles from my house at that point. I drove back the next day, and since have driven very little, maybe 2 hours total since than, maybe a little less but probably around. The battery has a 130 rc rating.

Driving home from Auto Zone today, when I hit the corner by my block my ABS light comes on, my speed/rpm gauges die, the car's not excellerating, it's not stopped either. I'm not pressing the gas just trying to coast home the 1/2 a block or so. I get home, shut it off and try to start it right back up to see what happens. clicks a few times but doesn't even try to turn over at all. My power door locks still work so there's some juice left. I get out and go inside, come back out maybe 5-10 minutes later to try to restart and it starts right up, I give it some gas to rev up the rpm's and after about 10 seconds my ABS light comes back on, my rpm gauge is still working at this point, I'm not moving there just in park revving it a little.

I'm NOT a car expert, I know... basic shit and sometimes get lucky and figure out some little things here and there. My logic tells me since it restarted, and the symptons I was having with the ABS light being on, it can't be my starter. I'm also assuming it won't be the alternator either since it restarted within 10 minutes without any effort.

The battery is less than 2 weeks old, I'm going to take it to Pep Boys to have it tested, if it comes back as not being able to hold a charge I think I need to figure out what could cause that. I seriously doubt a 14 day old batter is going to go bad on it's own (could happen I suppose...)

What else should I be looking at here? I'm confused, I guess I'll have the alternator tested again, but I can't take it out of my car, and have been told the machines they hook up to your car while it's running aren't 100% - if this valid information? I really want to figure out what the hell is going on here.

thanks to whoever helps

 

[DivideBYZero]

Pretty old car you got there. It appears to predate the first horseless carriage by ~1700 years.

 

[QueBert]

lol well I meant 2000 not 200, good eye. Hopefully somebody else can focus on the car and the problem not me accidentally putting 200

 

[LTC8K6]

It sounds like you may have an intermittent problem which can be a real pain to pin down.

I would go to www.taurusclub.com

They may be able to help you because they have probably seen this happen before.

They were a great help to me with my 1995 Taurus. I was able to find out how to take the whole dash apart and get it back together successfully. Lots of Taurus specific info there.

 

[QueBert]

I will head there, i think I might already have made an account years ago when I was getting my stereo done, hard to find people who know how to work with the Mach Audio system. It definitely seems like an intermittent problem so I hope I can either fix it, or figure out how to afford a new car soon

 

[Fern]

If you're trying to start the car and it just clicks, that means not enough juice to engange and spin the starter motor (the starter on the car is just an electric motor used to turn over the gas engine).

So, your electrical power is cutting in & out for some reason.

Check to make sure the battery cables are firmly attached. perhaps when they installed the new battery they didn't tighten them down properly.

I wouldn't think it the alternator. If they fail, your battery slowly runs down for lack of being charged.

Perhaps it's a faulty battery. Have it tested to make it's not defective.

Fern

 

[QueBert]

on Taurusclub.com they're saying the Taurus'es have a Battery Saver feature which auto kicks in when it detects the voltage dropping below like 10v or something. That would explain why I was able to re-start it minutes later. If the Alt is draining the battery it definitely wouldn't let me re-start, it's possible I suppose the Alt is bad but not causing a drain, but just not charging the battery. I don't know enough about cars to really know. Tomorrow I'm going to test the electrical system for a drain, if that comes back negative and the battery passes a charge test at Pep Boys I have to start looking at wiring. I HATE electrical problems!

 

[QueBert]

let me ask this, I'm not a car person, or much of an electrical person, but tomorrow I plan to isolate where the drain is coming from, assuming it's not a bad Alt, which of course I'll have tested first. If that comes back I want to troubleshoot for a drain. Will the following work?

take positive cable off battery, test negative cable for anything producing current, My lack of cars, but logic tells me it should be zero, or very close to it, I'd be looking for anything high. If I get a reading that's off the charts I start testing by pulling one fuse at a time until the meter drops. This would work? Never tried anything like it, but that is my plan as of this far, anyone want to inform me if this is how I should test? If not, what could I do with a volt meter and some wrenches? I don't want to pay a shop just yet, if I figure out where the drain is coming from I can go from there.

I had a similar electrical problem a few years ago, the dude wasn't 100% at first why so but he said it was a small drain that only effected my battery when the car was off, so he had me take off the positive cable (or was it neg? lol) off the battery every night and hook it back up in the morning before I left, and unhook it every time the car was going to be sitting for a bunch of hours. It worked until he was able to devote time to finding the source of the problem. So, if the battery tests fine, the alt tests fine, and there is a drain but it's not massive enough to mess with the car while it's running unhooking the battery like I did before would be a suitable temporary solution?

last question, what voltage should I be looking for as a red flag point when the car's off and I'm testing for the drain?

thanks

 

[LTC8K6]

I'd look for some loose wiring first. Check the wires on the alternator, the starter and solenoid, etc.

Maybe a corroded connector somewhere?

Poor grounds can cause weird problems, too.

 

[LTC8K6]

http://www.autoshop101.com/tra...es/batservice/118.html

 

[LTC8K6]

BTW, you can see pics of my well preserved 95 here.

http://www.taurusclub.com/foru...ex.php?showtopic=53267

 

[QueBert]

good advice, great link. I'm going to examine every wire I can find, even with my limited auto knowledge I can follow wires and know what corrosion and such looks like. If I can't find anything on my own after a day of work I take it to a professional.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: QueBert
on Taurusclub.com they're saying the Taurus'es have a Battery Saver feature which auto kicks in when it detects the voltage dropping below like 10v or something. That would explain why I was able to re-start it minutes later. If the Alt is draining the battery it definitely wouldn't let me re-start, it's possible I suppose the Alt is bad but not causing a drain, but just not charging the battery. I don't know enough about cars to really know. Tomorrow I'm going to test the electrical system for a drain, if that comes back negative and the battery passes a charge test at Pep Boys I have to start looking at wiring. I HATE electrical problems!

OK, I wasn't aware of that feature

If you're driving and your alt isn't sufficiently charging I suppose that feature could kick-in and create the problem you described originally.

I used to work in an automotive electrical (starters and alts) shop years ago. I never heard that the machines we hooked up test alts while still on the car were unreliable

Because of this feature you mention above I'm starting to suspect your alt, contrary to my intial reply.

Good Luck with it.

Fern

 

[LTC8K6]

Yeah, my 95 has the Battery Saver feature too.

It can surprise you when you get in and turn the key and the lights you left on turn back on!

 

[QueBert]

update.... I took the battery to Pep Boys instead of Auto Zone, and it tested bad now the alt was just tested and is fine. Battery is brand new, well less than 3 weeks old. Something is wrong, picked up a volt meter just have to figure out all the settings to use it properly.

Even a bad drain shouldn't kill a battery this quick. I am frustrated and not going to even think about getting a new battery until I figure out why a brand new battery is already testing bad

 

[Zenmervolt]

When you say that you "hit the corner" by your house, do you mean that you ran over or into a curb?

56R and 36R are battery sizes and do not refer to capacities, so as long as the 56R battery physically fit in the car and met the CCA rating it should have been OK. What you want to look for is a CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) rating.

(Comments on "RC" have been edited because I forgot what it meant and had to look it up.) The 130 RC is the Reserve Capacity, in this case it means that the battery can withstand a draw of 25 amps for 130 minutes at 80 degrees Fahrenheit before the voltage falls below 10.5 volts. It's really not a big deal unless you plan on letting the car sit for a long time or have electronics that will drain the battery quickly.

If you physically hit or ran over a curb, the impact may have jarred something that's a little loose causing temporary high resistance at a connection point and a voltage drop to the ECU and ABS computer. I would start out by cleaning the terminals of the battery and by dismantling the clamps on the cable ends. If there is corrosion on the clamps that can cause intermittent issues, so clean everything with a wire brush until it shines, then re-connect it all. Also, try to trace the ground (black) wire from the battery to the point where it attaches to the frame and clean that connection as well.

A friend of mine had an older (1992) Corolla that just stopped starting one day. The battery tested fine, but the car refused to even jump start. If left to sit overnight, the door chime and interior lights would come on, and sometimes even the headlights could be turned on with the car off, but as soon as you tried to start it, all electrical power stopped and the lights would stay off until the car was left to either sit with everything switched off overnight or the battery was disconnected and then reconnected. Couldn't find anything clearly wrong and it drove me nuts. I eventually decided to take the battery cable clamps off the car and clean them thoroughly even though they didn't look really bad because I couldn't think of anything else that could possibly be wrong with the car. That fixed everything. (Really annoying to find out that 10 minutes of simple cleaning had stumped me for 4 days... )

ZV