need help with '96 SL electrical problem

My 96 SL just started having electrical problems. For two days in a
row, when I go out to start it in the morning it would crank once and
die. All power zero, even the dome light out. I got it jump started,
and drove to work, and drove home that night, all is fine. Then the
next morning it did it again, all power flat dead. Jumped it again,
then after driving approx 10 minutes, all power went dead at 40 MPH.
Coasted to a stop and tried a restart, all power dead. I got out,
wiggled the battery terminals, hit the battery top and power came back
on, and it started. Drove 10 minutes to auto store, and they tested
the battery ( 3 months old) and said it was fully charged and had good
cranking amps. They also tested my alternator and said it was fine.

Took it home, and cleaned the terminals, even though they were not
dirty. pulled the 30 amp main fuses and they looked good.

Drove it to work, ran fine. sat 6 hours, started fine and I drove
it home, all worked fine.

Mechanic at work put his tester on the car and found nothing wrong.


Will have to see if it won't start tomorrow morning.

I'm thinking its not the battery because it can't recover from stone
dead to fully charged in 10 minuted on the alternator.

Could it be a relay, key switch or something else killing the power
circut intermittantly?

Larry

In article >, Larry > wrote:
>
>
>My 96 SL just started having electrical problems. For two days in a
>row, when I go out to start it in the morning it would crank once and
>die. All power zero, even the dome light out. I got it jump started,
>and drove to work, and drove home that night, all is fine. Then the
>next morning it did it again, all power flat dead. Jumped it again,
>then after driving approx 10 minutes, all power went dead at 40 MPH.
>Coasted to a stop and tried a restart, all power dead. I got out,
>wiggled the battery terminals, hit the battery top and power came back
>on, and it started. Drove 10 minutes to auto store, and they tested
>the battery ( 3 months old) and said it was fully charged and had good
>cranking amps. They also tested my alternator and said it was fine.
>
> Took it home, and cleaned the terminals, even though they were not
>dirty. pulled the 30 amp main fuses and they looked good.
>
> Drove it to work, ran fine. sat 6 hours, started fine and I drove
> it home, all worked fine.
>
>Mechanic at work put his tester on the car and found nothing wrong.
>
>
> Will have to see if it won't start tomorrow morning.
>
> I'm thinking its not the battery because it can't recover from stone
>dead to fully charged in 10 minuted on the alternator.
>
>Could it be a relay, key switch or something else killing the power
>circut intermittantly?

If the battery itself is good, the only other thing that would kill
*everything at once* is a disconnected battery cable -- have a look at the
*other* end of your negative battery cable.

>>My 96 SL just started having electrical problems. For two days in a
>>row, when I go out to start it in the morning it would crank once and
>>die. All power zero, even the dome light out. I got it jump started,
>>and drove to work, and drove home that night, all is fine. Then the
>>next morning it did it again, all power flat dead. Jumped it again,
>>then after driving approx 10 minutes, all power went dead at 40 MPH.
>>Coasted to a stop and tried a restart, all power dead. I got out,
>>wiggled the battery terminals, hit the battery top and power came back
>>on, and it started. Drove 10 minutes to auto store, and they tested
>>the battery ( 3 months old) and said it was fully charged and had good
>>cranking amps. They also tested my alternator and said it was fine.
>>
>> Took it home, and cleaned the terminals, even though they were not
>>dirty. pulled the 30 amp main fuses and they looked good.
>>
>> Drove it to work, ran fine. sat 6 hours, started fine and I drove
>> it home, all worked fine.
>>
>>Mechanic at work put his tester on the car and found nothing wrong.
>>
>> Will have to see if it won't start tomorrow morning.
>>
>> I'm thinking its not the battery because it can't recover from stone
>>dead to fully charged in 10 minuted on the alternator.
>>
>>Could it be a relay, key switch or something else killing the power
>>circut intermittantly?



>If the battery itself is good, the only other thing that would kill
>*everything at once* is a disconnected battery cable -- have a look at the
>*other* end of your negative battery cable.



I had a 01 Taurus that would start fine ; idle fine;
rev fine ; no trouble lights ; ..
... then completely die - about 1 or 2 seconds
after putting it in gear to drive off.
then .. start fine ; idle fine; rev fine ; no trouble lights ;
and .. die - taking off.
It was the ground connection on the front fender,
near the battery, where the small ground wire from the
battery ground cable connected.
It affected the computer somehow, I presume.
Good luck.
John T.

On Sat, 27 Sep 2008 08:50:16 -0400, hubops > wrote:


Thanks John!

I cleaned up the contacts on the battery cables and It hasn't died
on me for a couple of days now. They didn't really look all that
dirty, but I sanded them down to shiny metal and it seemed to have
done the trick.



>
>>If the battery itself is good, the only other thing that would kill
>>*everything at once* is a disconnected battery cable -- have a look at the
>>*other* end of your negative battery cable.
>
>
>
> I had a 01 Taurus that would start fine ; idle fine;
>rev fine ; no trouble lights ; ..
>.. then completely die - about 1 or 2 seconds
>after putting it in gear to drive off.
> then .. start fine ; idle fine; rev fine ; no trouble lights ;
>and .. die - taking off.
> It was the ground connection on the front fender,
>near the battery, where the small ground wire from the
>battery ground cable connected.
> It affected the computer somehow, I presume.
>Good luck.
> John T.