Car running, key in hand.

Hey folks... got a problem here, but first some history that may help:
1967 289 coupe

Last summer I put AFR heads in the stang, along with an MSD distributor, spark box, and optima red top. A couple months later I noticed the battery was dying. I had it tested and it was fine.

Then the car wouldn't shut off! I would drive it, park it, and turn the key off and the car would still run with the key in my hand. It ended up being the voltage regulator, I replaced the alternator at the same time along with new alt. wires going to the celenoid and ground.

The battery was still draining, so I looked through the wiring and found a short, fixed. Everything seemed fine until yesterday.

Got back from the gym and pulled in my driveway... key in hand, car still running. I was on the phone so I turned the car off with the kill switch and forgot about it until I went to start it this morning... dead battery.

So I'm out of ideas. The only thing I was thinking is that maybe the voltage regulator can't keep up with the rest of the upgraded parts. Should I maybe upgrade the voltage regulator? or maybe even get an alternator with an internal VR?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Joop

Oh yeah I forgot to say... I actually did replace the starter and solenoid this summer.

65fastbackresto said:

I`m not sure if overrun will make your battery go dead, but if it would........somebody can correct me I`m sure.

There are instructions with your ignition box telling how to install a diode in the voltage regulators wiring harness, to prevent it from doing that.

I went around this issue by installing a toggle switch under the dash that turns the ignition box off and on.

Click to expand...

I actually have a kill switch already going to my coil... I'll check out the diode thing. Thanks.