87 TurboII shut down while driving
 

I was going about 70mph on hwy the other day. After I passed the toll booth, my car completely shut down on me. All the warning light came on, so I pulled to the side and popped my hood, voltage gauge was reading 11.9v. There is always a draining problem in my car but even if that's problem, the car should stay running on battery with 11.9v. Im pretty sure it's not about the alt nor the battery. I tried jump starting it but it doesn't work. I thought it might be flooded because it shut down at such a high speed. I pulled the fuses and all that, did the deflood method, car wont turn over. It really wants to start but it just wont.(the speed needle was bouncing) I also tried popping the clutch, that doesn't work neither. My car is 87 turboII street ported with about 20.000miles. thanks for the help!

check spark? check fuel?

if the charging system isn't working, that's bad news on a turboII. the fuel pump needs the additional voltage from the charging system to function properly.

check spark as in spark plugs? and what do you mean by check fuel? sorry about the questions. thank you

Yeah, I understand that as well, but the car should still be able to function @11.9v.

Check compression. You probably have spark if the tach needle is moving.

uh oh, I was leaving a toll both when my motor blew a few weeks ago.... then again it was stock w/ 147k...

This sounds like a fuel problem, have you ever looked inside the tank ? checked the pump sock? changed the filter? cleaned the injectors?

this happened to me as well but i just have a NA 87.
do you have your battery tide down, you might have hit a bump that causeed your bettery to jump and hit metal wtch cuase a discharge.
hope this helps

Jumper the fuel pump check connector and listen at the tank for the sound of the pump running. IF running then it's not a fuel problem.

Like the man said, you have spark because the tach needle is makeing small bumps when you turn the engine over while trying to start the car.

I'd say it's a large air leak due to the turbo intake duct coming off or some other large hose/duct that came off. Like those going to the intercooler.

EGI and Engine fuses are good 'cause the tach needle makes small bumps upwards when trying to start.

i rather dislike that people ignore ignition as a cause simply because the tach needle bounces.

that verifies that the trailing is in fact firing but these engines need good LEADING ignition to run semi properly and in most cases to even start.

but my previous point is that if your charging system is in fact dead and the car is statically running on 11.9volts and you have to put a charger on it every day, you should not be driving the car if it is a turbo model. 15% less volts = about 5% less fuel and ignition energy, potentially a hazardous combination for the engine.