I'm very very flusterated-> I hate shorts!!!!!

[oboebrian]

Well my 72 was running great prior to and when i put the 72 in the back shop. But now something has drained the optima battery and even when jumping it I find evidence of a short (sparking when connecting the ground cable). When trying to jump it using a portable battery jumper the voltage drops down to 3.9 v (definitely not good). The battery itself is at 6v now.

It's a brand new starter, and the only electrical thing i've been messing with is finishing running the speaker wires to the 6x9's in the package tray. Urg!!! I see hours of wire tracing with a DVOM in my future. I hate this sort of stuff because it's usually something stupid but takes hours to find. sorry for the rant.

 

[bnickel]

hey oboe, make sure the doors are closed and the stereo ans amps are off, then re-test

 

[oboebrian]

hey oboe, make sure the doors are closed and the stereo ans amps are off, then re-test

The amps aren't wired in to my 72 yet (there in my 02 temporaily ) The doors were closed.

I did an elimination test of just hooking the + power lead from the batter through the starter solenoid then down to the starter. Nothing else on the starter solenoid. Using a remote starter switch i triggered the starter side of the solenoid (with the portable battery jumper connected to battery). Still barely cranked. I guess I'll have to get my trickle down charger from my boss and fully charge the battery itself (instead of using the jumper box) and see if that makes any difference. I do know I have a short somewhere, I was just trying to isolate the circuits. But that's hard to do w/o the battery being fully charged.

Oh what fun it is to have these old cars with the GBM/Midlife curse!

 

[2nd Mustang]

Had a similar problem in my work van a few months ago. One afternoon after driving all day, the engine wouldn't crank, lights were dim, dash wouldn't even light up. The only thing that worked was the radio. We jumped it and it ran good for a few weeks then it wouldn't crank again during a work day. We jumped it and it would only run for a few seconds then die. The battery had only 9 volts at the terminals. A new battery solved the problem.........I hope, it's been about 2 months now.

 

[bnickel]

were you working on anything else electrical?

 

[oboebrian]

nothing else for the past month other than hooking up the two rear speakers. before that was plugging in my tach which i had previously wired up with quick disconnects.

 

[pabear89]

Isolate it with a test light on the neg side.
remove the neg cable and put light inline.
that is the quickest way to find the draw on the battery even if it's low.

PB

 

[67coupestang]

Isolate it with a test light on the neg side.
remove the neg cable and put light inline.
that is the quickest way to find the draw on the battery even if it's low.

PB

yup hook up the light and start pulling fuses until the light goes out

 

[1320stang]

Maybe you should try a skirt, or I guess a Kilt, but I'm not sure you have the legs for it. You also want to be careful on your creeper.