I went to drive my car tonight, and as the engine was cranking, I lost all power. The dash went black and the starter stopped. I turned the key off, and back to run, and nothing. I tried turning it to start, and I heard a very faint door chime, and the seat belt light lit up, but was very dim. I popped the hood and left the key on. As I got out to check the battery cables, the power popped back on, so I sat back down and started it up. I noticed that the headlights and dash lights flicker as the car idles, and because of my cam, they really flicker a lot with the rough idle. I checked the battery cables, and they were secure. I backed out of my drive, and the car died and everything went black again. I started pushing it back into the drive, and the power came back on again.

Anyway, I have a few other electrical problems that seem to me may be related to this problem.

- I have a slow drain. Takes about 2-3 days to drain the battery.

- I go through batteries like crazy. About 1 a year or year and a half.

- I also burn up ignition switches. One of the wires is melted; either pink or red I can't remember off the top of my head. Eventually the switch also gets overheated and melts. Takes a couple months to kill a new switch. I've tried hunting this problem down but haven't found the problem.

I'm starting to wonder if my battery cables are worn out or damaged. Sound about right? Car has about 235k on it now, with original cables.

 

Sounds like your ignition switch or connection to it, again (if your headlights were still bright when the dash went dead). A poor connection at the ignition switch can cause excess heat and lead to eventual failure. You could always rig up a relay to take some of the load off the switch.

 

I would get it running and wiggle the battery cables and see if the car reacts. I had a bad connection and it caused the car to lose all power and I had to wiggle the wires a little. There was also a film on the battery terminals and it caused a bad connection even thought the cables were on tight.

 

The headlights cut out with everything else. When I lost power, only the seat belt light came on, and only when the key was turned to start. That's why I think everything may be related.

 

I checked the teminals, and they are ok.

Also forgot to mention the battery is new as of 2 weeks ago.

Also, I drove the car for about a half hour earlier today with no problems.

 

Have you had your alternator tested to make sure it is good yet? that could explain the slow drain and battery issues. The ignition issues I have no idea, other than there is a short to ground on the back side of the switch somewhere, since you have replaced it a few times. I would think it would pop a fuse though before it would get that hot.

 

I never did, but it may not be a bad idea. It's the original alternator, which is now 15 years old and also has 235k on it lol.

 

I picked up a new ignition switch yesterday and swapped it today. I started the car and let it warm up about 5 minutes beforehand, and no problems. The old switch didn't look nearly as bad as the others have when they failed, but I put the new one in anyway. when I got to the point of making sure the switch was adjusted correctly, the damn battery went dead from turning the car over, after having the door open only a half hour. Put the charger on the battery, and fired it up. Drove it for about 15 minutes, and nothing happened.

So, how would I go about diagnosing the slow drain?

 

new alternator! if the alternator is on the frites of going out your not going to be getting a full charge off it hence your battery problems. That will more then likely solve your slow drain.

 

Reason I mentioned getting the alt tested is if the circuit board ( i forget the exact part name anymore) starts to go bad, it will actually use electricity, and it will ground it out when the car is not running. I have the same problem in my thirdgen. need to buy a new alt for it. would take all of 3 days to completely drain the car battery. Right now I just take it and used the two battery switches I installed to disconnect the thing. (I burned through 3 batteries before I found the problem. I have idiots out here when it comes to getting the alts tested.)

 

I'll pull the alternator and have it tested this weekend.

Drove the car for about 2 hours last night and had no problems.