Engine stopped running HELP
 

I was driving home tonight and as I hit a small bump on the RR track crossing the engine died and all electrial power went dead. I though I was in for a real long night but as I coasted to a stop I turned the key back on and everthing is working well. I really would like to know if anyone has had something similar happen and does anyone have any thoughts??

Check the tightness of the battery cables and the alternator cables. Something is probably loose

I'll second that notion and suggest you clean the battery terminals with a wire brush while you're there. On my old car, the power zapped out on me overnight. All of my connections were tight and I was perplexed. Turns out there was an invisible layer of corrosion between the battery terminals and wires. Go figure.

I will check all the bat cables and tighten all the lugs on the fuse block..

sounds to me like your cars was hit by the midnight train to georgia, the ghost train, soul train, or elvis is working as an engineer.

Bob,

Another thing that it could be is the battery itself, we had one in our boat that would do funny things like this and then just died for good. Turned out to be a plate in the battery was broke and shorting out against another plate.

This may sound silly, but the battery shouldnt have anything to do with your car running and then quitting. You SHOULD be able to disconnect your battery while the car is running and it should run on its merry way. I would think that it's more likely a ground or something in the alternator circuit than just the battery connections. Any other opinions on this?

If the battery is shorting internall (or a short anywhere in the system) it can affect the whole system. Yes, you can remove the battery (an "open" vs. a "short") and it should still run providing the alternator is good.

-Boyo

Battery or switched ignition shorted to ground would cause this. Not a battery connection issue though, that would be an open and everything should run ok.

By loss of electrical power, do you mean lights, radio...everything?

Yes I do mean everything....the lights radio and anything else that has electricty to go it.

DO NOT DISCONNECT THE BATTERY WITH ENGINE RUNNING! Read your manual! You have an alternator, not a generator. In the old days, with a generator, you could run the engine without the battery. That all changed when the alternator came on stream. Now you risk an expensive damage to your system, like burning the diodes, when you run with a battery disconnected.

Check the condition of the green coax cable from distributor to CDI-unit, and its' pigtail connector ... if present. That cable is a known weakness in the SC electrical system, and can cause many weeks/months of mysterious, intermittent ignition problems when it is failing!

If the green plastic sheath of that cable is cracking ... I suggest replacing the cable.

All grounds in the engine compartment should be cleaned ... just as suggested above. Silicone grease such as Dow Corning 4, 111, or 112 should be applied liberally to the cleaned ground connections to preclude future corrosion.

Thanks for the help I will be checking

I'll throw in my two cents (CDN), check if the battery is loose. My guess is it jumped when you went over the tracks and the positive terminal shorted to the body.

I'm your uncle :D

I have checked the wiring going out of the dist. nothing unusual, I am checking the batt. the lugs seem tight. I have to think that there is something with the batt. as I had the batt out of the car just prior to this incident. I was replacing the condensor fan

Maybe a short/bad connection in the ignition switch? That would explain everything dying at once and then coming back when you turned (wiggled) the ignition switch again. Just a guess ...

Argo
88 Targa

Just for the record. I have found the problem, The postive connection to the battery was finger tight. I secured the connection and did a proper torque. That connection has a wire going off to the ignition. I feel better knowing that this will not come back at some time when least expected. Thanks for all the help.

Glad you found it. While you are at it, take a look at the negative connection from the battery to the body. It is kind of hidden and can get rusty. Unscrew, put some Vaseline or similar on it and screw back in.

Thanks for the advise....I already filled the neg. ground square and it is for sure connected to ground.