11 replies to this topic

[sconeman]

Had to take the intake manifold off tonight...told myself three times while working on the car that I need to disconnect the battery but guess what I never did. I had taken the plastic cover off the covers up the starter leads and I shorted the starter leads to the intake manifold or the intake manifold bracket (not sure what exactly) when I was putting it back together.

I went to start the car and when I turned it to the run position to charge the fuel rail (I have not actually started the car yet) There was a slightly unusual noise from under the hood, not sure what exactly, then all the lights (headlamps, dash lights possibly the entire electrical system) turned on and then off for a second then back on. So there was a very brief moment when the lights went out and then back on. This happens every time you turn the ignition to the run position. (before starting, and again I have not tried to start the car yet) I tried three times in a row and the amount of time that the lights went off increased slightly everytime.. after this little blackout happens the lights go on and stay on....

What should I look for here? I'm not sure what would cause this but I'm very reluctant to actually start the car until I can figure out what shorted out.

[BEJinFBK]

I'm reachin' here, but - Bad battery connections?

If they were a little grungy and you cooked'em with a short, they may have
gotten bad enough to drop out briefly like you described. Getting a little worse
every time fits the bill. If it's as marginal as you said, the starter might not turn over
even if you did try to crank it. That poor a connection probably won't handle the current.

Just for grins - Pull, inspect, clean and reconnect both battery posts.

[Citizen Clox]

You accidentally grounded the starter wire with the manifold? Could have shorted the ECU... but I am not an expert on the wiring in our cars.

[sconeman]

I tried switching ECU's already. No difference.

It's definitely not the battery terminals...

[lookforjoe]

Hi Kristian.

That's a puzzler; simply shorting the battery via the starter contact momentarily shouldn't have damaged anything. It's not as is you could have pinched the harness when doing the re-install, and the engine harness has nothing to do with lights, etc, anyway.

I'd just disconnect the battery entirely for a few minutes to reset, then try again. I'd go ahead & start it up at that point, to make sure it runs OK, which it should.

[trs80]

Is there a starter relay in these cars? I had a similar experience on an older pickup and had to replace the starter relay to get everything to work again.

[sconeman]

I'm wondering could it be a light switch or a light relay going bad and somehow I damaged it? I don't really understand how shorting the starter cable out could do that though...?

[sconeman]

found this diagram for a 95 850..

Also wondering if somehow I damaged the ignition switch or fuel injector/main relay now, seemed like the noise was coming from the fuel injector area or to the left of the engine bay.. it was hard to tell exactly but it was not normal.

Edited by sconeman, 08 May 2012 - 02:54 PM.

[trs80]

That diagram makes me think the ignition switch overloaded. Do you have a spare to check it against?

[Kevin.]

Try checking your relays under the fuse box Kristian, it'd be a start

[ErikS]

If its a 95, have you gone through the codes on the DTC manually?

Go through and see if there are codes, then reset and see if its starts.

[sconeman]

well... I'm stumped. Now the car is fine. No more symptom. Hopefully it's not going to be an on off problem, I'm wondering now if it actually had anything to do with what happened.

I checked out all the relays but I already ordered a new main relay (and FPR) from FCP this morning. Last night when I was taking off the manifold I found that the vac line to the FPR was loose and the FPR is leaking. Also found a semi loose vac line on the intake mani. I also found some really badly damaged wire of the main relay so I'm going to have that redone this week.

if there was some reason that it was not getting enough voltage than the relay itself mayhave been making the noise I heard.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone.

Edited by sconeman, 08 May 2012 - 11:06 PM.