Need some electrical help
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 25
Likes: 0
From: Long Island
Hey guys,
So I am going through my todo list on things to fix before I get my 95 trans am dyno'd.
I fixed the noisy headlights with new gears and then went onto the headunit. I installed the headunit and was tightening down the rear speakers for about 20minutes afterwords.
Rember that because the radio worked for 20 mins as did all speakers and the GPS addon
I went to turn the car on (for whatever reason) and it wouldn't start. I got a repeating thumping sound every 2 seconds. It resembled a starter on a motorcycle caking back an fourth.
There was no crank on the engine. It was just repeated thuds. The dash lights and interior lights blinked as if the electrical system kept restarting every 3 seconds.
I checked all the fuses on the interior and under the good, all good.
I hooked the battery up to a electric jump starter and it did nothing (same actions as before). One thing to note was the positive electric terminal would spark every 10 seconds while trickle charging.
I removed the radio and tried jumping it again. No results
As far as I can tell the radio is now toast as well (a nice 7" kenwood too). It's off because the inline fuses for the radio are still good.
I can't figure this out since the radio was on and working with the acc key in.
The battery took about 5 minutes to fully drain.. And now is dead. I am going to trickle charge it tomorrow.
Any thoughts? I'd like to get it solved by tomorrow as I start data logging before i go for a tune. Any thoughts are helpful, thank you.
I should note that while those 20 minutes of righting down the other speakers was happening... I was listening to music from the headunit.
So I am going through my todo list on things to fix before I get my 95 trans am dyno'd.
I fixed the noisy headlights with new gears and then went onto the headunit. I installed the headunit and was tightening down the rear speakers for about 20minutes afterwords.
Rember that because the radio worked for 20 mins as did all speakers and the GPS addon
I went to turn the car on (for whatever reason) and it wouldn't start. I got a repeating thumping sound every 2 seconds. It resembled a starter on a motorcycle caking back an fourth.
There was no crank on the engine. It was just repeated thuds. The dash lights and interior lights blinked as if the electrical system kept restarting every 3 seconds.
I checked all the fuses on the interior and under the good, all good.
I hooked the battery up to a electric jump starter and it did nothing (same actions as before). One thing to note was the positive electric terminal would spark every 10 seconds while trickle charging.
I removed the radio and tried jumping it again. No results
As far as I can tell the radio is now toast as well (a nice 7" kenwood too). It's off because the inline fuses for the radio are still good.
I can't figure this out since the radio was on and working with the acc key in.
The battery took about 5 minutes to fully drain.. And now is dead. I am going to trickle charge it tomorrow.
Any thoughts? I'd like to get it solved by tomorrow as I start data logging before i go for a tune. Any thoughts are helpful, thank you.
I should note that while those 20 minutes of righting down the other speakers was happening... I was listening to music from the headunit.
A few thoughts off the top of my head...
To drain the battery in 5 minutes flat requires a pretty nice current draw, or a pretty nearly dead battery. Since nothing was reported smoking, and I hate coincidences, I have to ask, did you double check the wiring on the headlights after you "repaired" them?
I also wonder why you think the Kenwood is toast since the fuses were intact. I suspect it simply isn't getting the juice it needs to power up (BTW, I am shopping for a new HU so I am curious which one you got).
To drain the battery in 5 minutes flat requires a pretty nice current draw, or a pretty nearly dead battery. Since nothing was reported smoking, and I hate coincidences, I have to ask, did you double check the wiring on the headlights after you "repaired" them?
I also wonder why you think the Kenwood is toast since the fuses were intact. I suspect it simply isn't getting the juice it needs to power up (BTW, I am shopping for a new HU so I am curious which one you got).
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 25
Likes: 0
From: Long Island
Hey Disciple,
Thanks for the suggestions. When I "fixed the headlights" i didnt actually take any electrical parts apart. I simply unhooked the latch and manually spun the headlight lifter.. guess "new" is the wrong term. They still make noise but they work. Its a temp fix until I get new metal gears.
As for the headunit.. I hooked it up to the electric charger and gave it a full 12v. Nothing happens so I assume its toast. I did notice that the fuse that sits in the actual headunit was missing, but I figure the inline fuse would take care of that problem (since replaced the missing fuse).
No smoking or any clicks that would happen when one blows a fuse.
The positive side of the battery sparking is interesting, and i've never heard of it happening before.
Mind you all of this is on a Optima Red Top Battery!!! Which should be fine after 30 mins of radio use.
I chose the Kenwood KVT 614 flip up headunit with the gps attachement. Its old by todays standards but it does everything the "new" units do. I can play and control pandora from my phone... use gps with the 2012 map updates and so on.
Today I thought the issue could be the security device but I noticed once I turn the key to the acc position, the security light goes off after 3 seconds. My next course of action when I get home is to volt test the starter solinoid and the starter.. I am at a complete loss on this one (and ive done A LOT! of stereo installs)
Replaced optima battery, and starter + solinoid and everything seems okay. I took apart the radio and replaced one of the resistors that fried at the board and it works... For now.
Thanks for the suggestions. When I "fixed the headlights" i didnt actually take any electrical parts apart. I simply unhooked the latch and manually spun the headlight lifter.. guess "new" is the wrong term. They still make noise but they work. Its a temp fix until I get new metal gears.
As for the headunit.. I hooked it up to the electric charger and gave it a full 12v. Nothing happens so I assume its toast. I did notice that the fuse that sits in the actual headunit was missing, but I figure the inline fuse would take care of that problem (since replaced the missing fuse).
No smoking or any clicks that would happen when one blows a fuse.
The positive side of the battery sparking is interesting, and i've never heard of it happening before.
Mind you all of this is on a Optima Red Top Battery!!! Which should be fine after 30 mins of radio use.
I chose the Kenwood KVT 614 flip up headunit with the gps attachement. Its old by todays standards but it does everything the "new" units do. I can play and control pandora from my phone... use gps with the 2012 map updates and so on.
Today I thought the issue could be the security device but I noticed once I turn the key to the acc position, the security light goes off after 3 seconds. My next course of action when I get home is to volt test the starter solinoid and the starter.. I am at a complete loss on this one (and ive done A LOT! of stereo installs)
Replaced optima battery, and starter + solinoid and everything seems okay. I took apart the radio and replaced one of the resistors that fried at the board and it works... For now.
