Speedometer issues at idle - other electrical oddities

[pjkinsella]

Well, I had just enough time to get the cover off of the battery compartment before the rain started again. Got a peak at the battery for the first time, and it's definitely not an Optima like he said (it's a NAPA Legend), so I'll probably be buying an Optima at the very least. Didn't have time to check the connections yet, but that's first on the list when the rain lets up. Now, where the heck did my garage go? Ugh.

[pjkinsella]

Positive terminal was loose, but alas, still no crank after tightening. Oh and then it started raining again.

[Steve-Indy]

By "no crank"...do you mean the starter does nothing? Or, starter just clicks? Or starter turns engine over in a starting attempt but fails to run? A phone is a terrible thing to waste !!

[pjkinsella]

By "no crank"...do you mean the starter does nothing? Or, starter just clicks? Or starter turns engine over in a starting attempt but fails to run? A phone is a terrible thing to waste !!

Solenoid clicks, starter does not do anything.

[AZTVR]

it's definitely not an Optima like he said (it's a NAPA Legend), so I'll probably be buying an Optima at the very least.

It appears that he was just using the term, "Optima" as a generic for an AGM battery. I've used Optima red tops with good results in the past; but, that was before the company was sold and Johnson Controls moved the manufacturing to Mexico. That seemed to result in a tremendous amount of failures posted on the web. The NAPA Legend AGM appears to be made by a different company without the reputation issues, so that battery may have been a better choice by the previous owner. FWIW

Good luck with your issue.

[pjkinsella]

Replaced the battery between rain showers and, BAM, upon turning the key...same result. This is infuriating.

[Steve-Indy]

Sorry. Have you read voltage at starter? Have you tried to bypass wiring to starter? Check resistance of positive feed from battery to starter? Sorry if I have missed answers to those questions.

[pjkinsella]

Sorry. Have you tried to bypass wiring to starter? Check resistance of positive feed from battery to starter? Sorry if I have missed answers to those questions.

I don't really have a good way to check the resistance unless I rig up some longer wires on my voltmeter. Think I could use jumper cables to bypass the positive wire from the battery to the top post up front? Might be worth a shot.

[Steve-Indy]

Agree...as I recall, the first part of Section 8 in the Service Manual deals with much/most of this...including sequence of procedures.

[pjkinsella]

I got her running! I believe the solenoid is on its death bed. I can turn the key and it clicks, but if I try it a few times it will turn over as normal. I believe all of the main connections are good.

[AZTVR]

I got her running! I believe the solenoid is on its death bed. I can turn the key and it clicks, but if I try it a few times it will turn over as normal. I believe all of the main connections are good.

I don't doubt that you might have a starter issue; but the symptoms that you listed in your first post would not seem to have anything to do with a bad starter solenoid. Have those symptoms gone away with the new battery?

Weird things that are happening:
- Speedometer is fluctuating around 40 mph at idle (and yes that means odometer is ticking up!). When the car is moving, it seems to be working fine.
- The left turn signal (dash light) is faintly lit.
- After the car heated up, the shift light came on and stayed on (aftermarket, obviously).
- The oil light came on.
- The car will not idle until it's warmed up (this may or may not be related).

[Steve-Indy]

Glad to hear it is running. Hope to see you at Capt. Quarters C&C sometime.

[pjkinsella]

Glad to hear it is running. Hope to see you at Capt. Quarters C&C sometime.

Definitely! I really need to get out there now that I have an interesting car.

But now that I got her running, the next step is to hunt down the original issues, as AZTVR mentioned. I need to get her out and taker her for a spin when it dries up outside to see if the gremlins show themselves.

[pjkinsella]

Rebuilt the starter solenoid $13 kit off of amazon, and she starts nicely now! Now I'm troubleshooting a driver side headlight flicker now. It has aftermarket HID's. I've ruled out the ballast and the bulb, so I'm thinking it must be an inadequate power issue. The passenger side works fine, and I swapped the ballast and ignitor and it's still on the driver side. I had an old bulb that I tried and that is flickering just the same.

Going to try to hunt down a headlight wiring diagram...

[pjkinsella]

Cleaned up a rusty nut and corroded connections at the grounding stud right next to the headlight bucket on the driver side. No more flickering. A step at a time!

Now, I need to take her for a drive and see about the original coolant temp issue and the electrical gremlin issue. Will report back!