asellers89mustang

i have an 89 mustang gt and everything seemed just fine I drove it down the street the other day and came right back home. when i went to leave again the car got stuck in the start position with the starter still engaged, when i turned the key off it still was running until i put it in gear and killed it, since then i have zero power whatsoever and when i hooked up jumper cables to it they fried and cooked. I replaced the solenoind at it seemd to fix the problem except now the fuel pump only works in the key on start position and not on run so it wont run. I changed the little plug on the column the ignition part as well as the fuel pump relay and nothing. now i have a massive current draw somewhere so when i have the cables hooked up i have like 5 volts and when i unhook them i have 12. Its a brand new battery as well. Please help i am so stuck and im dying to drive the car. I just bought it

Markus989

Do you have a multimeter to go chase this down? Test all your major circuits for the crazy draw. I think you can get one at Oriely's if you don't have one. I would have a suspicion this car may have seen an accident or two?

petrock

Here are good step-by-step instructions on how to fine a parasitic battery drain: http://www.wikihow.com/Find-a-Parasitic-Battery-Drain. Should be pretty easy to track down on your ride given the large amount of battery drain. Something is clearly shorted somewhere.

Keep in mind that while your testing your battery might go flat. So keep an eye on its voltage. If it drops below 12.4 recharge it before continuing your tests. It should be between 12.4 & 12.8 volts.

Good luck...

89fiveeight

A 12v test light will help you find parasitic draw pretty easily. With ignition in the off position, clip the alligator clip to chassis ground and pull your fuses one by one, placing the probe on the hot side of the fuse insert slot. When the light glows, you're drawing current. Keep in mind though that your clock and radio are going to have a small amount of draw for their memory

petrock

A test light will work for some parasitic draws. However, if the parasitic draw is pulling less amps then the minimum to light the test light then you will get a false negative. Some test lights require as much as 2 amps to light up. Incandescent & LED test lights have different amp specs too, not to mention the different specs between test light manufacturers. When an excessive draw is anything over 25-50 milli-amps (a.k.a. 0.025-0.050 amps), a amp/multi-meter is much more reliable in finding those kinds of problems. A good multi-meter is less then $20.

Just sayin'...

PNYXPRESS

Is it possible the new solanoid is a lemon and is causing the problem?

89fiveeight

Good point but using your dmm as an ammeter you would have to break the circuit and go from one side to the other in the fuse socket, correct? As opposed to using it as a voltmeter, going from hot to ground

99eric

a power probe is a great tool for testing problems


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petrock

A power probe doesn't test amps. So it is pretty much useless in this scenario.

99eric

true about power probe


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