Dunno if this belongs in this forum but meh.

I've got this funny power problem that's just popped out out of the blue, hopefully it's just a loose earth or something...

A few times now when I get in the car and turn the ignition it goes click and then the power dies. No lights, no radio, no horn - nothing. My first instinct is to pop the bonnet and check the battery. I wiggle the wiring at the battery terminals then check the igition again and all is working. I don't know if wiggling the wiring is just a co-incidence or not, it could be just intermittant and it decides to work again in the time it takes me to get out and check the battery

The funny thing is the clock in my radio and all the settings there have been reset like the power has been off (which apparently it has) but the clock in the trip computer hasn't been reset.

Any ideas ? Sound like anything in particular ?

Like u said could be ground...but then why does the trip computer not reset aswell..is it possible a loose earth and its just got enough contact to keep the trip computer alive?

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Last edited by blackjack_original on Fri Jun 06, 2014 8:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

not sand paper, emery paper dude! Preceded by some warm water and bi carb soda

ps when did your car go purple?

replace the terminals! mine was doing the exact same thing - i replaced the neg terminal - never was a problem again

Yeah that was weird, I drove through this car wash one day and it just went purple!
Nah it's been about 2 months since the respray started now, it's pretty much done but I'm still doing stuff bit by bit (wing still needs a buff before I put it back on)

Sounds like sus battery terminals, I've been meaning to get some newies as the old ones are a bit chatty so that's a good excuse

why not give one of those grounding wire kits a go while your at it? see if they make any difference? I think they are just larger less resistant earth wire, cant remember who but someone on here said they free up a few kW? be the guinee pig

Yeah a similar thing happened to me, turn ign on all comes up but go to start and all the power drops out, switch back to ign and everything comes back on..

Best thing to do is replace the batt terms with gold plated ones.

I had brass ones but they corrode just as bad as the factory ones.

Had the gold plated ones for about 6mths and not the slightest bit of corrosive build-up..

Bah, I'll believe that when I see it!
I'm not wasting money on snake oil, I'll just get some good connectors.

NFGhia, those are the exact syptoms, sounds like the same deal.

I might get one of those 'kill switch' type terminals. I remember seeing them around a while back, they've got like a rod/key thing in them that you can pull out and it cuts the power. It'd be a good added security measure too. Anyone know who sells them these days ? I thought Jaycar did but just checking on their website they don't seem to have them