88 mustang, more problems

[ddhawkfan]

Well its about the same problems i had as before. While driving the radio will turn off and the headlamps will flicker and car sputters and stumbles. It did this before and i was told it was probably a bad ignition switch, put a new switch it and the old one fell apart in a few pieces. The switch is from ford. Any other ideas what could possibly be causing this? any input will help tons! thanks in advance!

Daniel

 

[Vinnietbird]

I had those problems and it was the ignition switch.Perhaps the new one is bad?Have you checked the fuses and wiring?

 

[ddhawkfan]

i checked the fuses and jiggled the wiring on the alt, battery, starter solenoid, grounds and couldn't get it to do it, i'm gonna get another switch tomorrow and see, then i'll just warranty the one from ford.

 

[ddhawkfan]

btw when i replaced the switch it was about a month and a half ago and the car has run fine since.

 

[87WhiteStang1]

try replacing the harness that the ignition switch plugs into... mine looks a little melted yours could be too?

 

[ddhawkfan]

ignition switch harness looks fine. all the pins are shiny and set in place good. so i replaced the switch, same exact thing. when i hit a bump or give it gas then back off it immediately basically creating jarring the car. it will do it. cluster goes nuts, lights flicker, radio turns on and off a bunch, anyone able to point me in the right direction w/ this? possibly a bad ground or its shorting to power somewhere. anyone got any idea where abouts the main grounds are or power feeds that run a lot of the stuff, i let the car run and jiggled wiring everywhere i could think would be the problem. and can't get it to do it sitting in the garage running. but as soon as i drive it and hit a small bump it does it. please help if you can. thank you. any suggestions are being taken right now.

 

[86mustang84]

check your amperage guage,my **** fried one day and ever since i replaced that my car has been doin the same thing,i dont know why,but check it.check tps voltage,also check your voltage regulator

 

[ddhawkfan]

the amperage gauge? meaning on the cluster? and what is or where is the voltage regulator, i'm a GM technician, you throw a ford at me i'm lost, lol.

 

[86mustang84]

yea in the cluster,its attatched to the board and a pain where mine melted , the voltage regulator is in the altenator,vacuum leak would do the same thing,make ur idle surge and the altenator to not charge properly,let me know what happens

 

[ddhawkfan]

well i hooked my meter up to the feed out of the tps sensor and between 3.0 and 3.5 v its drops off the ofl. i've determined it does it during part throttle when you swat it and back it right back off, ecspecially under a load, i'm gonna try one tomorrow, damn it for not having 24 hour parts stores in kansas, i miss houston lol.

 

[davorstang]

same problem
my 86 gt was a bad ground on head lights , it was massing around with my windshield vipers to , i add couple grounds and it is good now.

 

[jrichker]

The secondary power ground is between the back of the
intake manifold and the driver's side firewall. It is often missing or
loose. It supplies ground for the alternator, A/C compressor
clutch and other electrical accessories such as the gauges.
Any car that has a 3G or high output current alternator needs
a 4 gauge ground wire running from the block to the chassis
ground where the battery pigtail ground connects.
The 3G has a 130 amp capacity, so you wire the power side
with 4 gauge wire. It stands to reason that the ground side
handles just a much current, so it needs to be 4 gauge too.

The picture shows the common ground point for the battery & extra 3G
alternator ground wire as described above in paragraph 2. A screwdriver
points to the bolt that is the common ground point.
The battery common ground is a 10 gauge pigtail with the computer ground
attached to it.

Picture courtesy timewarped1972

 

[strtrcr50]

If I were to hazard a guess, I'd bet your ignition switch is going bad again. Try banging on the steering wheel/column and see what happens.