[LoAstro95]

Hey everyone, hows it been? I havent been on here in a long time. I finally got the ball joints and spindles replaced on my 95 Astro last week. Its been out of commission for a year and its nice to be able to drive it again.

Iam though, facing another problem. This time is electrical, which out of all I dread. Heres whats happening, while Im driving if I use my dome lights or my high beams everything shuts off for a second, including the engine, and the check engine light blinks. When its idling if I do the same stuff it just dies completely and I have to start the van again. It did do this while driving without turning anything on once, but never did it again. Im not sure if its my battery, alt, or something else. Hopefully someone can give me a guesstimation on whats going on. Thanks

Ryan-LoAstro95 (aka LoSafari89)

 

[zombie{[six]}]

sounds like a short in the main harness

 

[Gary]

Well sure does sound like a short Ryan.I am no wizard at this stuff,but I can suggest something you could try.Disconnect the neg side of your battery.Hook up a test light to the pos side for your battery and to the disconnected neg cable.Then if the test light is lite,pull fuses one at a time until you narrow it down to the curcuit that has a short in it.Given you say it is high beams/dome light,you might have to turn one on at a time and see which one turns on the test light.

The battery you could measure the volts and have a auto parts store load test it.

The Alt you could measure it's output at the battery while the engine is running.

The hi beam switch could be bad,but I am not sure how that would relate to the dome light.

I hope someone else with chime in with the same problem and what they did for the fix.

Good luck in finding it.

 

[zombie{[six]}]

did 95's have a bcm? if so it could be a bad bcm.
check your fuses too. I had my dash light fuse blow and apparently it is the same circuit as the "exciter" line that activates the alternator to charge. so you may just have a fuse blown that seems TOTALLY unrelated to the issue and it may resolve it. I also had mysterious things happen when my trailer wiring harness would randomly short out. could be a number of things. Just do as Gary says and im sure you will find the problem; if not we are all here for ya buddy

and gary, is that the right order for the test? when i did it i think it was the test light goes between battery (+) terminal and the vehicles (+) cable? correct me if im wrong. im confused by the way you worded it

 

[Gary]

By hooking one side of the test light to the neg side of a disconnected cable and the other side of the pos side of the battery-the short in the harness is completing the curcuit. That is when everything is off there shoudln't be any light on. By pulling fuses one at a time,you are disrupting that connection thus finding the curcuit that is the problem.The key here is the disconnected neg cable which disrupts the curcuit threw the battery yet if there is a bad curcuit still lights the test light by a hot to ground fault somewhere else.

Damm-I must be tired.You run the test light betwen the disconnected ground cable and a ground.Edit-Edit-Edit. :doh: :doh: :doh: Well no one is perfit-least of all me. :rofl: :rofl: That side should be cold with everything off.

 

[LoAstro95]

Btw, I forgot to mention that it starts like the battery is almost dead. Also today, when I pulled up to my apartment, I put on the brakes and guess what it died. I dunno whats going on with it. It makes me sad.

 

[Big_kid]

Check your grounds. You could try using jumper cables as a test lead to see if that helps.

 

[zombie{[six]}]

maybe...long stretch here but definitely possible...alternator and battery going out? has happened to me. does kinda sound like a ground issue though

 

[LoAstro95]

I thought about the alt and battery. I mean its possible I have never replaced either while Ive owned it. On that note, if I reved up my motor wouldnt the voltage increase slightly on the gauge? I did that the other night and it stayed in the same spot I always thought it jumped up a little bit, but I guess I could be slightly crazy. :dunce:

 

[zombie{[six]}]

kinda depends on the car. some have capacitors in line of the circuit to keep the gauge from going nuts with all the power spikes

 

[LoAstro95]

Update, It might be a short or a ground. On my way home I hit a decent bump and it died for a second. Gosh, I hate electrical...

 

[zombie{[six]}]

well, time to start diggin

 

[spongebob218]

The slow cranking makes it sound like a ground problem. Try what Big_Kid said first. If it cranks normal, check your grounds.

If I'm correct, there is a main battery ground bolts to the side of the engine block, near the power steering pump. Loosen it up just so you can move the wire, move the wire back and forth a couple times, and tighten it back up. This displaces some rust/corrosion. See if it cranks any better. If it is better, take the wire off and clean the mating surface really good. I've seen a few times where that main ground wire on the block is tight and looks ok but actually has a bad connection.