I changed out my Tranny fluid and took my spider for a spin, about 3 miles down the road I pressed my brakes and the car would quit. After turning the key on and off several times, it would start again but as soon as I touch the brake or even turn the head lights on, the car will die.
Question: If over filling the tranny, would that cause this issue? is there a sefety devise on this to shut down the engine when over filled?
About a half hour later, I started it back up and ran fine and then died again. I was able to drive about 30 miles with out quiting but am afraid this will happen again. Could it be a grounding issue or ignition switch causing this?
I checked my battery and when not running I have 14+ volts and when running I have 14.2 + volts.
I even took off the ground wire from battery while running and continued to run.
Please, need help on this.
Loss of power when lights or Brakes are turned on
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So Cal Mark
Re: Loss of power when lights or Brakes are turned on
it's not a good idea to remove battery cables when the car is running; you create a nice voltage spike with the arc and can damage components. Much worse to do it on a computer controlled car, but not suggested on anything.
As for the stalling, will it kill the engine if sitting still and pressing the brakes? How does the pedal feel? If the booster has failed, it can create a large vacuum leak when the pedal is depressed and that will cause the stalling. Can you keep the engine running by revving the engine while pressing the pedal?
As for the stalling, will it kill the engine if sitting still and pressing the brakes? How does the pedal feel? If the booster has failed, it can create a large vacuum leak when the pedal is depressed and that will cause the stalling. Can you keep the engine running by revving the engine while pressing the pedal?
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riderrich
Re: Loss of power when lights or Brakes are turned on
Thanks for returning my post so quick.
Rather I am driving or sitting in my garage, the car will die when I turn on my headlights or press the brakes. When the car stalls, I do not have any power until I turn the key on and off several times or jiggle the wires behind the ignition. I can not keep the car running even while pressing the gas pedal. But I did read a post by DMEC Anderson from Sept. 20th. 2007 under electrical issues forum under (Headlights killing engine)
This seems to be alot of what I am having, Sometimes I have to jiggle the wires behind the ignition to get the lights on the battery indicator to light up and then I now it will start, but this problem with the engine dying when I turn on the lights or pres the brakes started after I changed my tranny fluid.
Rather I am driving or sitting in my garage, the car will die when I turn on my headlights or press the brakes. When the car stalls, I do not have any power until I turn the key on and off several times or jiggle the wires behind the ignition. I can not keep the car running even while pressing the gas pedal. But I did read a post by DMEC Anderson from Sept. 20th. 2007 under electrical issues forum under (Headlights killing engine)
This seems to be alot of what I am having, Sometimes I have to jiggle the wires behind the ignition to get the lights on the battery indicator to light up and then I now it will start, but this problem with the engine dying when I turn on the lights or pres the brakes started after I changed my tranny fluid.
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riderrich
Re: Loss of power when lights or Brakes are turned on
I don't mean to get off track, But when I changed out my manual tranny fluid today, I did get 1 3/4 quart of black oily substance out of the tranny and when I placed new fluid in, I placed about 3 quarts back in and still could not get the new tranny fluid to start dripping out of the fill plug. Am I filling the tranny in the wrong fill plug, there are 2 plugs on the side of the tranny, one with a allen wrench hole to remove , that is the higher of the two, and one much lower with a wrench bolt plug. I did drain back out about 1 quart, but don't know which plug I should be filling to.
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So Cal Mark
Re: Loss of power when lights or Brakes are turned on
fill from the lower plug
on the stalling, it sounds like the ignition switch is bad, but the wiring could just be loose. Do you have the switch with a short pigtail, or do the wires attach right to the switch individually? If you have the pigtail, check the connector, you may have a burned connection there.
on the stalling, it sounds like the ignition switch is bad, but the wiring could just be loose. Do you have the switch with a short pigtail, or do the wires attach right to the switch individually? If you have the pigtail, check the connector, you may have a burned connection there.
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riderrich
Re: Loss of power when lights or Brakes are turned on
Thank you for your help on my questions. I did fill from the top plug. I intended on draining the tranny again just to make sure I got out all the old fluid.
For the ignition, I have a white connector behind the ignition, I will check this out this morning. again thanks alot.
For the ignition, I have a white connector behind the ignition, I will check this out this morning. again thanks alot.
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imscifi
Re: Loss of power when lights or Brakes are turned on
I just bought a 81 from a friend who had the car sitting for about two years. It had the same problem problem. Everytime I would touch the brakes or use the signal switch or turn on the lights, it would kill the ignition. The very first thing is to check all the grounding pods. The first thing that fixed the problem for me was removing the water from the rear tail lights that came from leaky seals. Problem fixed. Next day same problem. No water, but cleaned corrosion from boards, sockets and connectors. Problem fix. Next day same problem. Don't ask why but I removed the wire for the trunk light. Problem fixed for two days. This was starting to feel like the move Ground Hog Day.
After alot of trouble shooting, unplugging connectors till the car would not die. It seemed to be caused by my column switch. $95 later ,new switch and problem was fixed for good. Now If I can just figure out why it dies a stop lights and signs after a 20 mile drive I'll be set for the rest of the summer. Or until the next problem comes up. But hey if I didn't like a challenge I would have bought something newer.
After alot of trouble shooting, unplugging connectors till the car would not die. It seemed to be caused by my column switch. $95 later ,new switch and problem was fixed for good. Now If I can just figure out why it dies a stop lights and signs after a 20 mile drive I'll be set for the rest of the summer. Or until the next problem comes up. But hey if I didn't like a challenge I would have bought something newer.
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DMECMAnderson
Re: Loss of power when lights or Brakes are turned on
imscifi - I think you may have the same sort of problem that I have with my 81, see "Headlights Killing Engine". In the end I believe the root cause was that the ignition switch and the connectors. Essentially there is too much current running through the switch, eventually it heats up and any additional load kills the engine (like brake lights). My car would run great for an hour then would die. I took Marks suggestion and reworked my ignition to use relays to switch the power and the ignition switch to control the relays. That seems to finally have solved the problem. I've posted my revised circuits in the Headlights Killing Engine. If you want them in PDF form, I can e-mail them to you. If someone has a better place that I can post the files in PDF form, I'll send them to you to post on the board.