A friend of mine has a 1999 Automatic V6 Mustang with 140k miles. The thing recently died on her. The shop she took it to told her that it is probably an electrical issue and is going to cost her $387 to diagnose the problem, saying it is "power damage." (Doesn't make sense to me, not sure what they are talking about but that is what she relayed to me.) She told me that the car would start when jumped, but would not start up again on its own once it was turned off. Also, she said they put a new battery in the car and it would not start. This is pretty weird to me, and I can't think of what it could be. Any help would be appreciated. Also, does that amount ($387) sound right to diagnose an electrical problem?

Thanks in advance.

 

Sound's fishy to me. It sounds like a bad connection some where. Some shops love women that come in alone.

 

Just a thought, but it could actually be the alternator. It isnt charging the battery when she is driving - thus new battery or not it wont have a charge and the car wont turn over. Same thing happened to my sister 96 v6 auto.

 

thats a BS price...i had an electrical grimlin sorted out by a local company that specializessoley on car electrical and it was a $60 charge (one hours work) to diagnose it. try some of these cheap electrical system checks first.
1. make sure the battery and terminals are clean and secure. fix: clean and replace, wire brush or corrosion solvent.
--get battery checked/charged at local parts store for the next step--
2. check the voltage on the car off and under load. Slightly above 0 with the car off, ~12v with the carcranked (just cranked and idling)and ~15v with everything crankin (car, stereo, lights etc). fix: seems high? u got a drain, have fun removing each fuse 1 by 1 til the voltage drops, then fixin that system the fuse controls.
3. Check the alt, with the car in the "on" position but not cranked, the altenator case should be slightly magnetic (try witha screw driver) or have an imput voltage of 12v. fix: take the altenator toa local parts store, they can test it. volts fall short the voltage regulator can be replaced. amps fall short, 1-3 diodes have bit the dust, replace the whole altenator.

hopefully that helps. the sixxers have a replacable voltage regulator unlike our 4.6l built in regulators[:@]. unless a wire has been damaged then one of these 3 should work. oh if its a lighting system that is producing a draw, just remove the light for a quick fix as that will break the electrical circuit...nothing fancy. oh, and if u want my opinion, the alt is beginning to fail. if the car died while running then definitally the alt, if not its still potentially a parasidic draw. good luck

 

Thanks a lot for the help. I'll let her know and give her a hand. I think she has the car at the shop though, but that is an easy issue to fix.

 

Sounds like a grounding issue to me. When you put the jumper cables on it it, it is getting a ground from the other car.

Do the lighst come on when the door is open? Can you turn the key in the ACC position and does the radio turn on?

has to be a wiring issue of some kind. I would check the ground out first, cause if it was the hot side of the battery that had a bad connection, putting jumper cables on it would not send power to places.

It may be something else, but I would look into the ground, and also find out if there is power going through the car with the key in the ACC position.