16 replies to this topic

[Hanaldo]

Hey guys,

Tom (Toopretty4jail) has just bought a 1989 R32 GTST, and we went and picked it up last night after it had passed the pits. Drove it from Morley to Chidlow fine, no dramas, everything was sweet. But then as we were heading back down the hill, we went over a very slight bump in the road, enough to jolt the car a bit but nothing major... and the whole car cut out. Headlights, engine, everything. Came to a stop and tried to start the car again, nothing, completely dead, doesn't even turn over or click.

First thought was instantly "battery lead has become disconnected". So popped the bonnet, but the leads are all fine, securely fastened. Got my mate to try to start the car, and the negative terminal connection sparked quite badly but nothing else happened.

The fuse box doesn't have a lid, so we don't know which fuses are which. Was pitch black so we didn't just wanna start pulling out fuses randomly. The funny thing is, after awhile we could turn the headlights on again, and the interior lights came on. But then i tried turning the headlights off and on again, and everything shorted out and turned off again. From then on, everything was dead except the interior light, which came back on about 5 minutes later.

Eventually we just jump started the car and that worked fine, drove it back to my mates girlfriends house and left it there, but as soon as we turned it off it was dead again, wouldn't start. We are going to go down to Battery World tomorrow morning to get the battery tested, so we will see what that shows up. But what could be causing this? Alternator? Coil packs? Bad earth? Fuse? If it is something obvious then we will find it, but if we don't know what we are looking for then we are going to have problems...

Thanks a lot for any help, would really highly appreciate it!
Cheers,
Martin

[V8EATER]

Can the old battery be recharged before buying another?

Do a test with a full charged battery in the car starting the car and then taking the positive lead off while its running to see if the alternator is still charging the car while the battery is disconnected.

Check it out.

Otherwise it will be something else killing the cars battery.

[2LV8ETR]

Check the integrity of the main power supply +&- from the battery as well.

A short caused by a jolt is usually a sign of a poor connection.

[NA_Goodness]

It's definately electrical, but doesn't sound like a battery. If it was the battery, the starter solenoid would be clicking and you'd either have power to everything else of not.
Check all your fuses, might have blown the main fuse, although it wouldn't be driving it had. Or it's blown and is still slightly touching. Check your main wiring and grounds around the battery, again something is loose and isn't making a proper contact.

If this all fails, take it to an auto elec. Hopefully this is the issue the car has

[Hanaldo]

Problem solved... don't really know how. My guess would be it was a dodgy connection, because we just took the battery out, sanded the terminals, put it back in and it has been running great ever since. So whatever the problem was, it is now solved

[NA_Goodness]

That just means its not playing up, not that its faulty. It very possibly can happen again, so be careful. Glad you didnt need to spend heaps to fix it though.

[Hanaldo]

We didn't touch anything else though. Tried to start the car with the battery in, didn't work. Took battery out, sanded terminals, put it back in, worked first time. The fact that the negative terminal was sparking when he tried to start it, and then we disconnected it and cleaned the terminal leads me to believe that it was a dodgy earth connection.

[NA_Goodness]

Possibly. Well I'm glad it's all fixed now. Is he enjoying it?

[Hanaldo]

Haha yeh he is, it's so bloody slow though! My car would be faster as is lol. It sounds bloody mint though, and it is in really good condition. Except the speedo is about 20-30kms out for some reason.

[NA_Goodness]

So slow? Even for an RB20, it shouldnt be slow? You the cat isnt blocked? Or something along those lines?

[Hanaldo]

Nah pretty sure it runs fine, but it doesn't feel as fast as Dani's Ceffy... Which is the closest example to a stock RB20 that i can compare to. Tom's Falcon and our mate's Fairmont easily keep up with the 32, and it just doesn't feel very fast at all.

[NA_Goodness]

Dani's Ceffy is almost 110% stock, so something is wrong. Check boost first, then move along from there.

[Hanaldo]

I suspect the boost might be low, but no way of telling without the boost gauge. How much boost should a stock RB20 be running?

Tom only has a 3" turbo back exhaust and a pod filter, so his car is very much stock as well. It is quick compared to other cars, but i really think my car would be faster than it. I took it for a quick drive and it didn't feel as quick as my car, and as i said the Falcon's easily paced it.

[NA_Goodness]

RB20s should run about 12psi I think?

[2LV8ETR]

RB20s should run about 12psi I think?

Nup. Guess again.

[Hanaldo]

12 psi? I thought they ran 10psi stock?

[NA_Goodness]

Ok, maybe it is 10. I knew it was higher then RB25s...