electrical issue, please help.

I am a complete dummy when it comes to electrical stuff but I am having issues with my 2006 GT. At first I thought it was just a dead battery. I jumped it, ran fine, everything was working normal... except my auto window would not work on my drivers side only. Wasn't overly concerned with that right away, especially after a few minutes it starting working again just fine. After allowing the car to run for a while to charge the battery I turned it off, sat in the car, set the alarm and was looking to make sure I didn't leave anything on that would drain the battery (the battery is only about a year old). While sitting there I noticed that the little green lights for the auto windows and lock/unlock stayed lit and never turned off. Wasn't sure if that was exactly normal or not, but decided to disarm the alarm and start the car to see if the battery would work. The instant I fully turned the key there was absolutely no electricity, period, zilch, nada, nothing at all, no clock, no lights in the window switches, nothing!

Concerned at this point, I popped the hood, I felt the cable to the alternator and the first 3rd of the cable, originating from the battery, was very hot. I then realized it has been that way for a while due to the plastic around the cable was very brittle and cooked, but only in that part of the cable. I have since been able to look at the car due to work, but plan to work on it in the morning, was hoping for some direction on where to start?

Another thing to mention is that I do have a tune in the car, it is a BAMA tune from an SCT tuner. I don't know if that would have anything to do with anything though? I have always noticed that my voltage meter in my dash has always showed slightly high voltage ever since I got the tuner, but that has been for over a year now.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks

madspeed said:

go to your local autozone/advanced/oreillys and have them run a test on your system. its free and will tell if its an issue with the charging system or battery

Click to expand...

Great advice, and I probably will do that... thanks

I apologize for not posting sooner, reason being that I haven't really found anything. The day I worked on it the battery had been charging and all i really did was clean the corrosion from the positive terminal and cables. It fired right up and has worked normally since. When I took it to autozone they did a test on my battery and said that it was on its way out and I should replace it. The guy said that the hot cable could be because the alternator is working so hard to keep the car running right with a battery that is not holding its own.

I checked fuses to see if there was anything going on, with the vehicle off, I left the voltmeter connected to the battery and removed fuses one by one to see if there was a jump in voltage when I removed one, nothing seemed out of order at all. I am not sure what is up with my car, but it seems to be working fine... for now...

After doing a lot of research on the issue I have discovered after market alarms, remote starts, and things of that nature are OFTEN the cause of many electrical issues. The next big thing is grounding, chase out all cables and make sure everything is tight an not "burnt" or look like any kind of arching is happening, another indicator would be melted wire insulation. I also found out that there is a lot of issues that can arise from a bad voltage regulator inside the alternator. The alternators on my model mustang have some kind of clutch that can malfunction and make things not work right as well.

I am by no means a professional, far from it, I am just learning as I go but thought I should share the things that were shared with me.