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OK, what did I blow?


Richard S

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Allowed the battery in my 90 to drain. Went to jump the car. Properly hooked up the cables. Turned the key and the dash lighted up. So far so good. Turned the key to start and everything went black. Everything. So what did I blow? Circuit breaker? Fuse? Or dreaded Fusible Link? How do you tell when a fusible link has burned out? How do you replace one if it has? Why are they used in preference to a fuse?

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Guest steveskyhawk

A corroded or simply loose battery connection would explain all of this. Lets hope for your sake. My fingers are crossed. Good luck

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Good thought, Steve. I should have cleaned the terminal and cable right off. I am going to disconnect the battery for charging and clean all the connections. But why would that explain the sudden complete loss of power after I turned the key, when just before, the dash lit up fine? Besides, on our side mount battery, you have to jump at the red positive "power box", which puts the juice after the cable connections?

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Guest steveskyhawk

Connections are funny. They can look good and not be. The bad connection can be the ground wire where it attaches to the chassis. It could be the connection on the starter solonoid. The reason it went black all of a sudden is because a marginal connection can arc when you put a big load on it which is what happens when you try to crank the engine. After you have checked all connections try to jump start it again. Better yet being as that you have a dead battery take the battery out when you disconnect it to clean terminals and charge the battery before reinstalling it. If you need to jump start hook the positive (red) to the small post on the batterry and hook up the black one to an unpainted bracket on the engine as far from the battery as possible. You want to avoid an arc near the battery because of the possibility that there may be some explosive hydrogen gas near the battery. good luck.

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Just recently had similiar symptoms, it was a bad battery terminal bolt that was allowing the battery terminal to be SLIGHTLY loose. If you can grab the battery terminal and rotate it at all with your hand, its too loose. New bolt installed, problems went away.

Even if it is not a bad battery bolt, it could be a bad or corroded terminal, internal short in the battery, bad ground, etc.

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Took the cables off and took out the batt. I don't see any sign of corrosion. I still think that when you get dash lights, turn the key to start, and everything goes black, permanently, you are looking at a fuse, breaker, or fusible link. I could see the cables/corrosion keepig the starter from cranking, but absolutely nothing? I will test the batt theory after it is fully charged.

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About a year. It is from Wal-Mart and I'm not sure who makes it for them, but it has a 3 year free replacement guarantee. I am charging it, and have a batt tester that can put it under load, so I can test that. It put out 12 volts when I removed it, but was marginal under load. I'll see if that changes after it is fully charged. Unfortunately, someone made off with my charger so I am using a trickle charger overnight. If that does not show good under load, will take it to them and have it tested and possibly replaced.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Time to eat crow. To all who said it was the battery, they proved correct. I took it out, slow charged it and put it back in. Car came to life, though it ran horribly. Acted as though the cat was obstructed. I put a spark plug tester on each coil pack tower and found that one pack was bad [i was using a salvage yard Delco type coil pack/module]. Car was firing only 4 cylinders. Replaced the bad pack and all is fine. [i always buy a few on 1/2 price day at the yard using Padgett's formula that 1 out of 2 units will be bad. Actually I find the modules are usually OK, but 1 of 3 packs will be bad] Thanks again to all, and especially those who properly ignored my protests that it had to be a fuse or the like.

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See picture, check grounds. This may not be your problem but I have found these to be slightly loose on several cars, especially the one (on left of picture, partially cut off) that attaches to the radiator support.

post-30596-143137961541_thumb.jpg

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Guest crtnrds

I had 3 (count 'em) three Wall Mart batteries go bad within a few months. A tip for members; If you need something that works (as opposed to consummed or just used).................DON'T buy it at Wall Mart. They have stuff (especially electronics, cameras etc) made to their specs to make them ....ahem, more affordable.

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I didn't see this mentioned about jumping the battery. I've jumped many a battery, but often the connection of the jumper cables could be poor. There maybe enough of a connection for the interior lights to come on (including the dash), but not good enough to start the car, and the connection goes dead. Wiggling the jumpers often will be 'good enough' to provide cranking.

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I assumed that Wal-Mart batteries were made by a major manufacturer for them. Since theirs carries a 3 year free replacement and 72 month warranty, and the damn outlets are everywhere in the Country, I figured it was a decent deal. It had been sitting for a long long time. Also, they don't hassle you at all for an exchange. Perhaps, as several have pointed out, its because they have to do it so often.

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I have found that application of a $4.99 (on sale often) float charger from Harbor Freight greatly extends the life of a battery that sits for long periods of time.

My preferance is for batteries with both side and top terminals, fit many of the cars, and have a 2 year unconditional warrenty for under $40.

Have never had a WalMart EverStart but have bought Champions etc. from Sams Club.

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I have ran Wal-Mart/Sams batteries in many cars trucks tractors and heavy equipment for decades… never any issues.

IT makes NO sense, either common or business, to sell inferior or defective inventory AND honor a warranty… I have always found Wal-Mart ans Sams to have superior value and quality. I don’t understand the source of the ‘supposed’ deliberate marketing of inferior merchandise that is periodically connected with large retail outlets…

Think about it, you do not build a loyal customer base on flimflam marketing. KennyV.

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I've had good service out of Everstart and Champion batteries. You can't beat the service and they are located in most every town. All batteries are going to go bad before the warranty is out. That is what keeps you coming back. Any money spent on a warranty longer than two years, is probably paid to get a better insurance policy rather than getting a better battery.

I don't trust any battery. It doesn't matter if they are new or old, cheap or expensive, they can fail the next time you start your car. I check them often for loose connections, corrosion and proper water level. The best investment you can make is a good set of jumper cables if you want don't want to worry about a battery leaving you stranded.

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