'92 N/A 5 speed Wagon dead as the Moon... for five minutes.
Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 6:43 pm
Greets all,
I bought my wagon back in October and I've been lurking here ever since. There's a lot of wisdom floating around, and I've managed a whole bunch of stuff on my own thanks to the community here! I'm wondering if anyone's dealt with the issue I'm here to describe. The car has (only) a few issues, and I've included them at the end of the post in case they offer any clues as to what I should investigate.
Yesterday I jumped into the car to go to work and it was dead. Dead, dead, super dead. Everything pointed to a flat battery. No lights when I turned the key, no sounds or clicks, the power door locks weren't operating, etc. Nothing worked. Just in case, I glanced at fuses and looked under the hood for signs of mischief, and found / changed nothing. At this point I wasn't too stressed out about it. I planned to get a new battery on Monday. The car was still dead as a post when I gave up.
So I unpack the car and I'm in the garage sorting my stuff out for my bike ride to work when I hear the car's door locks toggle. This was discomforting. I get in, try it, and it started right up. The radio clock was flashing 12:00 like it lost power, but other than that it's like the whole thing never happened. I just went out this morning to try it and it fired up like a boss.
What the hell! My dad's a mechanic and said it sounds like I have crossed wires somewhere, but I have no idea where to even start.
- Other electrical issues, just in case they might point to anything I'm missing: The engine occasionally... hiccups(?) at any speed, in any gear. This is difficult to describe... The whole car will shudder like it isn't detonating on one cylinder, but it only happens once, for a split second, and then everything's fine again. This can happen in "flurries" where occurs three, four or five times each day. One time it happened twice in a row (two back-to-back hiccups a split second apart). I can go weeks without this happening at all, wet or dry weather. I replaced sensors, spark plugs, and all kinds of crap trying to iron this one out. No dice. My hunch is that it's an electrical issue, but that's just a guess. As a result of my trying to fix this, the only code I have left is for an abnormal ignition switch signal.
And I've also got various old / fickle connections here-and-there (like the rear license plate lights, some of the stereo speakers, etc), and the only electrical work I've done was replace the rear speakers. No custom audio going on, and everything else is stock.
So that's how that's gone. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks so much!
I bought my wagon back in October and I've been lurking here ever since. There's a lot of wisdom floating around, and I've managed a whole bunch of stuff on my own thanks to the community here! I'm wondering if anyone's dealt with the issue I'm here to describe. The car has (only) a few issues, and I've included them at the end of the post in case they offer any clues as to what I should investigate.
Yesterday I jumped into the car to go to work and it was dead. Dead, dead, super dead. Everything pointed to a flat battery. No lights when I turned the key, no sounds or clicks, the power door locks weren't operating, etc. Nothing worked. Just in case, I glanced at fuses and looked under the hood for signs of mischief, and found / changed nothing. At this point I wasn't too stressed out about it. I planned to get a new battery on Monday. The car was still dead as a post when I gave up.
So I unpack the car and I'm in the garage sorting my stuff out for my bike ride to work when I hear the car's door locks toggle. This was discomforting. I get in, try it, and it started right up. The radio clock was flashing 12:00 like it lost power, but other than that it's like the whole thing never happened. I just went out this morning to try it and it fired up like a boss.
What the hell! My dad's a mechanic and said it sounds like I have crossed wires somewhere, but I have no idea where to even start.
- Other electrical issues, just in case they might point to anything I'm missing: The engine occasionally... hiccups(?) at any speed, in any gear. This is difficult to describe... The whole car will shudder like it isn't detonating on one cylinder, but it only happens once, for a split second, and then everything's fine again. This can happen in "flurries" where occurs three, four or five times each day. One time it happened twice in a row (two back-to-back hiccups a split second apart). I can go weeks without this happening at all, wet or dry weather. I replaced sensors, spark plugs, and all kinds of crap trying to iron this one out. No dice. My hunch is that it's an electrical issue, but that's just a guess. As a result of my trying to fix this, the only code I have left is for an abnormal ignition switch signal.
And I've also got various old / fickle connections here-and-there (like the rear license plate lights, some of the stereo speakers, etc), and the only electrical work I've done was replace the rear speakers. No custom audio going on, and everything else is stock.
So that's how that's gone. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks so much!