To all, especially the electrically gifted:
I preface this with yet another acknowledgement that I am an electrical
idiot. Laugh at the appropriate places.
It goes back several months ago, but maybe even longer than that. Several
months ago my radio started to briefly blink off, coming right back on. After
a while, as the blinking became more frequent, it was occasionally accompied
by the alternator light blinking on and the engine briefly shuttering.
Then, after having it parked for about 10 days waiting to get to the problem,
the
starter wouldn't turnover and interior lights blinked and went out when the
igition switch was engaged. I fiddled--this is what I do with electrical
problems--and discovered the fuse block connections were iffy. I replaced the
block and--presto!--the lights came on and the car started and--at
first--there was no blinking radio or alternator light. I thought I had cured
it.
Not so. I guess I had two concurrent problems.
The blinking radio, light and hesitating engine had me stumped--I even
replaced the alternator. It was a better alternator, but no improvements in
the
blinking, and no clues. Not until I tried to blow my horn. No horn sound,
but the radio blinked off. I went to the schematic and traced the lines, but
all seemed well. Then I took off the horn button.
I have a Montney steering wheel. The horn button wouldn't stay in the
hub--too small for the opening--so I cut a thin strip of aluminum stock to use
as
a conducting shim, since it had to conduct from the edge of the horn button
to the hub. Then the little metal filaments from the center of the horn
button that contact the horn "pencil", well, they broke off. I soldered three
bare wires to the center lead and fanned then over the area the pencil resides
to make the needed contact.
When I looked in wheel hub this time I couldn't see any problems except it
looked as if the center wires weren't contacting the pencil. When I got that
sorted out, it seems my blinking radio problem has been solved, too.
Is this possible, or an I being fooled again? Is is possible that the horn
was somehow shorting an accessory circuit? It doesn't look like they're
connected, but, as I said, I'm an idiot.
And looking further into the past, a couple of years ago I hit a big bump
one day and the alternator light suddenly flicked on. It stayed on for a
while, and then went out. However, after I parked my car, turned off the
ignition
and walked away, the light came on and stayed on. When I came back the
battery was dead. The car wouldn't keep running on the alternator, even after
a
jump start. I had it towed back and replaced the alternator, and it ran
fine. Could that a horn circuit short have done that, as well?
I now have an extra alternator that is about 2 years old. Any takers?
Jay Donoghue
72B-GT
66 Mustang
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