800 plus miles...

Markus2

Markus2

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...drove back and forth from VA this weekend. 45 miles from home i notice interior lights start dimming. Def a electrical drain of some sort-kept driving-than the abs light starts coming on... than the abs light-than i loose headlights and the car finally dies in an intersection 8 miles from my destination.
It has new voltage regulator.
New battery.
New alternator.
I am thinking that the slightly corroded terminals are the cause-leading to a slow drain because the circuit is not closed all the way- maybe?

In the past I have had to wiggle the positive terminals-because of the corrosion issue where cable meets terminal.

We will see-had it towed to the mechanics-cuz i had no other choice.


Broke down in middle of intersection-NOT FUN AT ALL.
 
update on electrical system

So mech. said system checked out fine

Voltage regulator, alternator, and battery along with all wiring were good.

Battery was just under the amp. range needed to turn it over.
He charged battery-system is holding strong.
No issues.
Cleaned up a bit of corrosion on positive terminal-but no need to replace the cable he said.

Very strange-no answer on this one.

I do not feel comfortable driving it with this conclusion.

I am thinking it might be time to upgrade the alternator to a 3g unit from a taurus or something as discussed in these forums.
Don't know much about wiring but it seems people have re routed headlights and other system components-gotta research that too.
I really dont know what happened-but it sucks.
 
Sounds like a ground issue,,,, or an intermittent alternator failure.
 
Sounds like a ground issue,,,, or an intermittent alternator failure.


____how do i go about checking the above- and the alternator is less than year old
?
 
update:
car died again-slowly lost all power over series of 30 min
than after letting it sit for like 7 min- it turned over, slowly but turned over and everything powered up fine immeadiately.
drove it for another hour with no issues.

I am replacing positive battery cable because there is some corrosion leaking out from under rubber insolation near the terminal-so it cant hurt.
Electrical system and wires have been double checked again and all seems fine.
SO freekin odd

Note: 2-3 occasions my car has stalled all after all the guages and lights were bouncing all over and than the car dies.

are these phantom issues with my electrical system related?
 
update

ford linc merc no longer make or have stocked the negative and positive cables from battery.
mech. was telling me that they are specific and the universal ones will never be the same.
So we are trying to locate the cables and terminals.
 
The mech. was saying something about this specific cable has like three smaller cables or something along the lines that determined the universals were not the same way-anybody have some advice on negative and positive cable replacement?

went to drive car away from mech. shop and it died in his parking lot-i parked it before it died and ran inside to tell him to get meter to read voltage-car died while rushing over to it-litterally a few steps away.
so today/tom. he will be re checking the system.
BLAH
 
The mechanic may be right that the conectors are specific to that car. That doesn't mean the universal one wont work. Its not rocket science. Some universal connectors have an extra post and wingnut to add more wires. Or you can tie some of the original wires into one feed off the battery.
 
I want to know if i go the universal route-what have mk7 owners done with this situation and how well has it worked.
The overtaxed system is so delicate anyway-i would hate to weaken it with universal cables.
but if thats the only way...
than thats the only way....

Considering the Alternator upgrade also if I have a weaker connection with the universal set up.

I wish somebody read this thread and said, "I had the same problem...
and this is what I did"
 
OK What cables are you looking to replace. Does the car start good. Does the starter cable get hot when cranking. I guess I don't know what it is you are looking to replace. If the conection at the battery is bad change it.

What part is your issue with.
 
Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Thanks for all the advice.

So-
here is the conclusion to all these charging issues.

My "aftermarket BBK cold air intake" was just barely leaning against the voltage regulator causing it to vibrate.

It seems that something internal in the voltage regulator came loose from the vibration-because upon checking the voltage regulator- it had juice to it- and would run fine for some time and intermittantly would not work. When it died in mechanics parking lot two days ago-he was able to diagnose it when the voltage regulator was acting up and not working.
Wiring was fine-only noticeable issue was the metal cold air intake leaning just barely up against the voltage regulator.
So-new VR and problem seems to have gone away-3 hours of driving now and no issues yet.

And cold air intake had some room to move so it simply has been pulled away and off new VR-if it starts shifting down the road I will be relocatiing VR a few inches away or simply putting back the STOCK PLASTIC INTAKE.

Problem solved-very very bizarre.

Has anybody ever had a VR that would work and not work sometimes. i always thought it worked or didn't.
Very very odd.
 
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