The Greek

I posted this on the TBI board too, wasnt sure where to put it

Alright today I decided to install an open element on my third gen. Not a hard mod very easy I thought. I followed the instructions on snflupigus' site to the exact word. However the one part where I am supposed to say "WOW" while reving the engine did not happen.
After disconecting the battery for 30 seconds to reset the computer I went to start the car and nothing happened. No cranking or anything, it was dead. Now could I have fried my car? I dont think I could have cause the car was never running to do anything, plus the headlights still work a long with the tailights etc. I looked at a couple of the fuses and they were not fried. Could I have done electrical damage some how? The only way that I could have fried anything is if the base of the cleaner came in contact with any of the coil wires right? which it didnt. I then tried jumping it. No dice.
So what the hell happened here, what did I do wrong. Am I looking at a electrical problem here or a problem with the starter cause it isnt engaging.

Thanks for the help

-Jason

Riley's35089rs+

Make sure your battery terminals are clean and tight...also check the connections to your starter...something must have come loose when you reset the ECM...

Iroc87

I'm not trying to insult your intelligence, but is your car in park or neutral, if it is try banging on the starter with a hammer or wrench. My wifes ford did this once, and I smacked the starter with a wrench (big crescent) and the next turn of the key vrooom started like a charm

The Greek

Yes my car is in park and I already smacked the starter with a hammer, I didnt want to kill it but I gave it a good whack. Also the terminals to the battery are nice and tight. As far as the connections to the starter go I would assume that those are fine, I just drove the car earlier today and all I did was disconnect the negative terminal. But I will take another gander.

Riley's35089rs+

Might check all your grounds also...

Gunny Highway

iTrader: (1)

Well I will tell you this.....it was unessary to disconnect the terminal. Are you sure the coil wire didn't touch the base of the air cleaner? If not, then I'm lost????

The Greek

I was just following the instructions, didnt want anything to go wrong.......As far as the cleaner touching the coil I paid specific attention that it didnt touch it, I bent the coil back from the base a little bit just to be sure cause I know that it could have serious consequences. Even if the base did touch the coil wires wouldnt the coil wires need to be bare in order to do any damage?

fast86z28

im not sure about your car, but on my car there is a ground that is connected to the negative battery terminal and goes to the inside of the fender, i broke the ground once when i swapped batteries, u may of broke that ground, because my car wouldnt start or crank or anything...mine is carb's im not sure about the tbi cars, may wanna check that though..

Riley's35089rs+

Ya gotta go out and move some wires around.....it must be a loose connection somewhere.....do you know what "fusible links" are? Check these at the starter.

The Greek

So this is what happened today..............

Most of the feed back I have recieved has mostly been saying that it has been a connection problem of sorts. So I decided to go over everything that I touched yesterday and see what exactly was going on. I went to double check the negative terminal of the battery and tried retightening it. It never got tight where the wrench would stop turning. I then took it out and looked at the bolt, it was stripped. I then looked at the negative terminal on the battery and it looked kind of messed up. I thought that this might be my problem. So having the negative cable bolted to the battery does not work. However with the same battery and negative cable you can barely touch the cable to the battery and the car will turn over.

Now thinking that it was a problem with the battery I bought a new one. I even put a new terminal on the negative cable wire. Once again connected everything to the perfectly new battery........... tried starting it........nothing it was dead. So once again I unbolted the negative cable and once again if you barely touch the negative end of the cable to the battery the car turns over.

Its something crazy where their can not be a bolt through the negative cable to the battery.

The cable is grounded to the fender perfectly. You can have the cable bolted to the battery as hard as you want and the car will not start. The lights, windows, electric hatch and stero will still work but the thing just will not start.

I am stumped..................once again

Riley's35089rs+

Me too, lets move this to the top and wait for a guru to help us out....

DartByU

It's been my experience that you should never just replace the battery cable end, go ahead and buy a new cable and replacing both of them would be a good idea. Your just asking for trouble with the cheap bolt-on ends. I've seen a similar problem where all the lights and other stuff would work but still the car would not start, it was finally fixed by new cables and cleaning all the grounds.

The Greek

More misfortune.......

I decided to get a whole new negative cable, reinstalled it and the SAME THING HAPPENED AGAIN! tighten it down no start, have someone hold it in a different position, starts right up. Guess I wil buy a new ground wire, its the only thing still stock touching the battery.

I also noticed this today, the light for my alram is flickeringIt has never been like this in the past when the car worked it always has been a solid red light. Didnt notice the alarm ligtht weirdness until today.

Thanks for all the help so far, wonder what will happen tommorow....... will it start??????

Riley's35089rs+

VATS.....I know nothing about it, but I know guys have trouble with the system sometimes...you know, the little chip in the key...do you have it...or are you talking about an aftermarket alarm...either one could cause you grief.

The Greek

I have the one with the chip in the key, I assume that its stock. The light is also built into the dash.

91L98Z28

if you have VATS, make sure the light on the dash is going out.

maybe your bolt for the cable is too long, and bottoming out before the cable ever contacts the battery or something?

The Greek

What do you mean? when the car worked the light was always on showing that it was armed. Why should it be going out now? If I see that the light is solid red I would know that the car would turn over, its flickering now which is a bad sign.... something isnt right.

The Greek

And the solution to the problem is.............

Well it turns out that the dude who had the car before me put an aftermarket VATS on. So when I pulled the fuse to disengage the alarm a while back it just screwed up everything. So when I cut power after the installation of the open element the alarm was still engaged, just pulling the fuse didnt get rid of it. So every time I would go to start it the VATS would engage and cut power to the starter. I didnt want to mess around with the electrical system so I took it in and got the VATS professionally removed to avoid future conflict. Never occured to me that I needed the whole thing gone not just the fuse, so I kinda shot myself in the foot. Thanks for your help guys.

However the open element rocks! and the car works so I am happy.

Riley's35089rs+

Now why couldnt Icome up with that for Slowstangeater...in another thread...i would have nailed 50.00.....Glad you got it fixed and thanks for the update...