H4Inf

FC 1988 TII pretty much stock. Airpump/ac/power steering.

Without the jumperleads on, turn the key and all the dash lights dim but not much happens at all - engine doesnt turn over. Turn the headlights on and they roll up real slow.

Pop the jumper leads on, turn the key and the engine turned over real slow for about half a second and then stopped.

It's not a prob with the engine because I can turn that over by hand easily, so I'm thinking electrical problem. I'm not that familiar with the FC, so just looking for some pointers, where should I start looking? Car cruise tomorrow morning, I was hoping to fix this up tonight

Thanks in advance,

Paul.

jono20

I say try it with another battery if you can. Even with the jumpers if could be effin up.

RoadRaceJosh

Check both ends of both battery cables for good connections. Make the connections clean and tight with no corrosion or paint between the ground cable and the body or engine. Have the battery itself tested too.

H4Inf

The wires look a bit old, I might try heating them up and soaking them with solder. I did tighten the terminals but that didn't seem to help. It's hard to get to where the earths connect to the chassis because of the power steering pump etc.

I plugged the battery into my charger and it said its ok. So i've left it on charge. If I put a multimeter across the terminals it reads 11.6 Volts.

I got to fix this one tonight, so I was thinking the following:
1) try and get to all the grounds and check they are good.
2) get up close and personal with the starter. check the wires are secured to it properly.

Something weird. The car has a turbo timer, anyway after you turn the key to off, and the turbo timer kicks in, the AC Radiator fan kicks in and spins until the timer times out. Could this just be because something is confused from low voltage?

Is there liek a main fuse that everything connects through that could be causing the problem? I saw the 80Amp 'main' and i couldnt get it out. Do I have to unbolt it? The bolts on the sides seemed tight so im not sure thats the problem?

MY best guess though is earths because the headlights are slow at coming up as well as turning the starter over...

Or a short?

Any more ideas? Cheers!

RoadRaceJosh

11.6 volts is a dead battery. Getting the battery voltage up should be job #1.

Soldering the cables won't help unless they are clean inside. You have to remove any corrosion before soldering.

The turbo timer is probably wired to run the fan to cool the car down.

H4Inf

Alrighty batt is charging and has been for 4 hours. I'll wire brush off all the cables and contacts. I wired the turbo timer lol, and I did not wire it to that fan :P