hey all, I've got my 86 t/a (LG4) acting up again. this time the car wont completely shut off. the fan (which is hardwired to be on with ignition) stays on with the key out, and the choke light is staying dimly lit. battery is draining as well.

any takers?

much obliged.

 

How long till it shuts off? I'm thinking maybe you have a cross short in your ignition wiring with something related to alternator. If this is the case power from the alternator will go straight to the igniton and keep it on. loosen the alternator wire enough to get it off by hand while running. start it up and try and shut it off, remove that wire, if it shuts off then thats where you should start looking. Just something to try.

 

Ignition switch could also be faulty. They tend to fail and cause some strange gremlins.

My truck had a failed switch and the spedometer and interior lights would randomly shut off while driving.

 

One place to start troubleshooting is the fuse box. from your description it sounds like even though you turn everything off power still goes to some devices. My guess is that you have a "power leak" from one circuit to the fan and choke circuit(s). Turn everything off, use a multimeter to see which fuses still have power, once you've identified the "live" fuses look at the fuse box cover and find out what circuits they belong to. If a fuse is for the cooling system for example ignore it for now, if a fuse is for let's say brake lights pull it out and see if the fan is still turning, if the fan doesn't turn anymore put it back in and check the fan again if it starts turning then you have a power leak between the brake circuit and the cooling circuit. I don't think they will be called brake and cooling circuits but you get the idea.

Good luck with it, electrical issues can be a pain but if you use common sense you'll fix the problem. One thing though, don't ignore it for too long, the issue might be bigger than a fan staying on, maybe there is a cable with now insulation touching in the wrong place and sparks outside the combustion chamber are not good. Have a fire extinguisher handy when you drive it and for over night just disconnect the battery. You can wire a 9V battery to a cigarette litter adapter (I used one form an old car cell phone charger) to preserve the clock settings etc.
I don't want to freak you out I just want you to be aware of other possible scenarios.

One other thing, look for the most obvious thing first before you start pulling wires out, look for worn out insulation, loose wires etc.

I hope this helps.

 

i agree with a cross circuit leak

make sure you dont have alternator wiring somehow tied to the ignition or anything else other than just to the battery or starter

the battery draining tells you that something somewhere is hot/running with the key off that shouldnt be

disconnect the alternator wire at the charging post and see what it does then

if that doesnt make it act normal again then try unplugging the fan motor


has any electrical work of any kind been performed on the car recently ?


good luck

 

well, im a complete green horn to troubleshooting electrical, but i unplugged the neg terminal from the battery, hooked up a volt meter to the neg cable and found that there was an 11V drain. ill spare you the details but i found the wire thats hot. it comes right off the positive batt. terminal and its not the starter wire. its an orange fusbile link that runs into the wireloom that goes behind the passenger side fender. now i just gotta figure out what that wire does.....