Cerb Cut Out Today - no igintion or anything!

[gcpeters]

Hmmm

had an interesting one today, and thought i would post to see if anyone has experienced the same or had any suggestions

Getting the cerb out of my garage today all was well, and then it just cut out completely on my drive, no power at all to the whole car, had to open the doors the emergency way

anyhow, could only think something was left on whilst it was in the garage and the battery was dead (although it had been on the CTEK all night)

so got the charger out, hooked it up, and low and behold the alarm starts to bleep and we have power again, thought that's strange, anyhow go to start and then it cuts out again!

so get the car back in the garage and take the cover off etc, notice the alarm light is flashing so power is back. Checked the battery voltage and its 12-13v, which i thought was strange! so then i checked the negative terminal and it was on, but not exactly tight so i tightened it up a good few turns.

then decided to try starting it up and it was all fine! she fired into life, checked the battery again whilst it was running and a good 14v showing that it was charging and the alternator was fine!

so ideas? i thought big fuses, but then surely it wouldn't charge very well?, and it was changed at the last service. I was thinking maybe the negative wasnt quite on, and then when i connected the charger up it allowed it to earth? is that even possible?

hmmmmm ! (its working fine still now!)

GP

[spongy]

shhhhhhh silver key?

[Gray_101]

your problem was due to the poor earth connection. it should be fine now you ve tighted it up

[robsco]

spongy said:

shhhhhhh silver key?

That was my first thought.

[spongy]

robsco said:

That was my first thought.

we all dream about the silver key

[robsco]

spongy said:

we all dream about the silver key

That's right, some of us even have working ones!

[tonywilliams]

spongy said:

we all dream about the silver key

Dream???? I thought it was a reoccuring nightmare we all have.

[spongy]

tonywilliams said:

Dream???? I thought it was a reoccuring nightmare we all have.

Dream.........Sleep would be a bonus

[Gray_101]

The silver key does not kill the power to the doors or alarm,,,, so its not that

[robsco]

That's right, good thinking.

[tonywilliams]

Gray_101 said:

your problem was due to the poor earth connection. it should be fine now you ve tighted it up

I agree, having had a bad earth lead to the battery on a previous car it would be fine one minute then no power what so ever the next. Might be worth cleaning the terminals if they are looking a little dirty or corroded.

[colin 82]

Poor connection.....or the wire itself is broke. happened to my brothers cerb......Even tho we were told it had been done one week below during some eletrical work.

[RUSSELLM]

This doesn't help ...... But I had a similar thing a couple of weeks back.

No ignition lights or fuel pump off the button. I had a mess with the metal key, but to no avail.

I armed & disarmed the alarm a couple of times & it cleared.
I gather there's a 3 way immobiliser on there. Ignition, Fuel pump & starter motor ?
I can only presume it threw a wobbly.
Been OK since

[Byker28i]

Could be the immobiliser? I know Graham had a problem with his immobiliser and it cut the car out randomly.

[supersix]

Immobiliser can't cut power to doors, instruments etc. so it probably wasn't that. My money would go on the battery connection too.

[gcpeters]

Thanks for all the replys

i hope it was just a loose negative cable, but its strange that they battery still charged fine etc the night before, i guess it must have just been on, but not making a decent connection when the current was drawn etc..

fingers crossed it was just that!

(ps lets hope i dont have to post the "it cut out and i was 200 miles from home" thread!)

GP