valkera

I am a middle aged woman...that being said-I helped work on the upper engine. Then it went to a garage that made things worse. A new garage replaced the coil, throttle body, new used battery, replaced damaged cam sensor. 1994 MUSTANG BASE CONVERTIBLE 3.8 v-6
the Catalytic conv on the driver side burned out. It is a 2 cat system. The passenger side is still working. The garage says I don't have to replace the burned out one. IS THIS TRUE?
The car hesitates when I put it in gear. Before, I couldn't drive the car because it acted like it wasn't getting the right fuel/air mix and had a high idle. Now, I just give it a moment to level out. Other wise it seems to run good.
2 weeks ago, the car acted like it was dead. My son jumped it. It started. A few days ago, I took someone to work and it was fine. 3 hours later it was dead..or so I thought. The next morning I had dome lights, so I tried to start it. it was dead. 2 days later, dome lights. Again, dead. As soon as I put the key in and tried to start it, it was dead both times. Battery is fully charged. The mechanic suggested a problem with the ground.
It makes sense, based on what I read about he ground but I have to fix this myself. ANY SUGGESTIONS? I have to wait for rain to stop for a couple of days, then I will get under it and look. WHAT AM I LOOKING FOR? I NEED TO KNOW WHERE THE GROUND GOES ONCE IT IS ON THE BOTTOM PART OF THE ENGINE? I can see it grounded to the car and the box to the right, next to the battery. But the large gauge cable, for lack of a better word, goes to the bottom. It is saturated with fluid. COULD THAT BE A PROBLEM

88 orangepeel notch

First off, welcome to the forum. But please understand that it is a forum and you never known who's giving advice, good or bad. Also, it's sometimes difficult to diagnosis a problem explained thru typed word, but you did a pretty good job.

First, you said the car won't start, even thou you have a dome light on. I'm assuming that the motor won't even spin over, probably just makes a clicking sound. How are you checking the battery for a full charge? Or are you putting a charger on it when it won't crank? If unsure on the battery, pull it out and take it to your local big name auto parts chain store, ie: Autozone, Advance, O'Reilly, etc. They'll test it for free.

If that checks out good, then start checking your battery cables, should be clean and tight. Follow the cables off the battery, positive should go to the starter solenoid. Make sure those connections are clean and tight. Negative cable will run straight to the engine block, again, clean and tight. You may have to undo the connections to clean the contact areas. Should be metal on metal, no corrosion.

I'd do these steps first to help us narrow down your problem. Might be as simple as a bad battery, lose, corroded connections, a parasitic drain in the battery, bad ignition switch.

Someone chime in if I'm forgetting something

Chromeshadow

88, all great ideas!
btw, cleaning the battery posts and cables is pretty easy with a battery post brush. You can get these at autoparts store. There are two brushes, one for the cable-shown in the pic, one for the battery post which you can't see well in this link.
http://www.grainger.com/product/3KFK...140528142322:s
Did the dome light dim when you tried to start the engine? If not, you probably have a bad solenoid or starter. These are easy to check if you have a volt meter, we can give you step by step instructions. Test lights are a little help, but meters are much better-you can get a cheap one from Walmart for $10.00.
Visually checking the ground wire where it connects to the car is a good idea, even if it means cleaning up the engine bay enough to see it.
If the area is wet, does that mean oily and greasy? Are there any puddles under the car? if so, green red or black/brown?