Cars been turnn on and off while driving at the same time the engine service light and seatbelt light flickers and also the radio turns on/off. Wen I try to start the car it stalls for aminute then builds up to turning on. It's been doing that all week yesturday mornn it did the samething wen trying to start only this time the radio didnt come on and that never happened before. Its thursday 3/4/10 and my car wudnt start at all no choking noise wen tryna start it not even the radio will come on. I got the batter and alternator checked but is fine, but I'm confused now don't kno if it is acouple of fuses blown or my start went bad. accepting any suggestions thanx
86 cutlass supreme won't start
- Thread starter coolcut86
- Start date
- Status
Kinda sounds like your starter may be bad or grounding out causing it to be like a major parasidic drain
I agree that it sounds like you have a grounding issue. I don't want to say it's the starter as usually when they ground out the car will just keep running when the ignition is turned off (had that happen on my '81 Calais AND '84 Tornado, both Olds -hmmm).
But it does sound like it's in your ignition circuit. In terms of the radio, it will go off as you try to restart the car. Power draws back to the ignition / starter circuit - remember the starter draws hella amps!! What happens if you just turn the ignition to the "ON" position and try the radio? "ACCessory"?
When you say the battery and alt checked fine, did they do a load test on the battery as well as test the alt's output?
But it does sound like it's in your ignition circuit. In terms of the radio, it will go off as you try to restart the car. Power draws back to the ignition / starter circuit - remember the starter draws hella amps!! What happens if you just turn the ignition to the "ON" position and try the radio? "ACCessory"?
When you say the battery and alt checked fine, did they do a load test on the battery as well as test the alt's output?
Alt. has nothing to do with starting the car. It only works when the car is running. Check the ground cable. If it is a stock 86, the cable will be about the size of a pencil. Barely enough when the car was new, after 24 years, it's toast. Get a thicker ground cable.
My wife's 86 did sorta the same thing. Drove 10 miles, shut it off. 5 minutes later wouldn't start. Disconnect and re-connect the cable at the battery, fires up. Shut it off, won't restart. Put a thicker cable, no problems since.
My wife's 86 did sorta the same thing. Drove 10 miles, shut it off. 5 minutes later wouldn't start. Disconnect and re-connect the cable at the battery, fires up. Shut it off, won't restart. Put a thicker cable, no problems since.
Oh agree but while the alt has nothing to do with starting the car its output should always be verified, just as a battery. Like, just hooking a voltmeter to the battery only gives the state of charge but put a load on it or check with a hydrometer and see what happens. If the alternator is not working correctly, the system will have a similar problem and will fail. I press about getting the items thoroughly checked because can't tell you the number of times I was told a battery or alt was "good" when they were toast.
Sounds like your wife's car had a problem with high resistance, or broken wire strands, almost like a heat soak condition. The op's problem was intermittent on/off while driving, then it went kaput. That's why I'm asking about the grounding & whole charging system.
Another thing to look at is the module in the distributor. It can cause a similar problem where after driving a certain amount of time it gets hot and fails. Wait 20 ~ 30 minutes car fires right up. This wouln't cause the radio not to come on but it can cause the vehicle to stall. Bad gas could've caused the stalling too but not sure.
Sounds like your wife's car had a problem with high resistance, or broken wire strands, almost like a heat soak condition. The op's problem was intermittent on/off while driving, then it went kaput. That's why I'm asking about the grounding & whole charging system.
Another thing to look at is the module in the distributor. It can cause a similar problem where after driving a certain amount of time it gets hot and fails. Wait 20 ~ 30 minutes car fires right up. This wouln't cause the radio not to come on but it can cause the vehicle to stall. Bad gas could've caused the stalling too but not sure.
Gotcha jae, I agree. Last night was a little foggy and I kinda read it wrong :lol: It's all good 8)
- Status
Similar threads
