Bruce Carter scribes:
>Well, when you think nothing else can go wrong something always does.
>Last night on my way home from work and dinner the car decides to just
>quit. I mean really quits, everything quit, the lights give out, the
>radio quit, and the engine ceased to fire. Then all of a sudden I got
>this big shotgun sounding backfire with an accompanying BIG, like REALLY
>BIG black puff of smoke from the tail pipe. Yes the muffler is still
>intact, and in the correct shape.
Sounds to me like the alternator output *and* the battery became disconnected
from the rest of the cars electrical system. his is normally a trouble free
area, and so I do not have every single wire for this memorized. I can only
point in the general direction. Check all of the big brown wires, starting at
the starter motor, and continuing up to the fuseblock, and two feet fore and
aft of it. All of the power distribution takes place in this area. If I
remember correctly, there is a plastic covered junction with four wires, all
brown, just aft of the fuse block that is the main distribution point. This
and the connections at the starter would be a reasonable place to start.
BTW, if the engine mounts are *really* shot, the motor can drop far enough
to put a strain on the starter harness.
Randy
randy@taylor.UUCP
Ooops, just reread your post. It's possible that just the battery side of
the system went open. If the engine idle ever dropped below the alternator's
minimum tickover speed, it will drop out on it's own. Same effect, same things
to check.
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