Motors Bad battery?

This is my first time posting in your forum and was wondering if anyone could help with terrifying engine problem. At random my car looses all electrical current. First the engine stops, power-assisted steering fails, breaks stop working and every warning light on the car lights up then flickers off in three seconds.

The only way to stop the car is to run it into soft ground and hope it stops to put it in parking after using the emergency brake. It is a death trap on highways and only marginally safe to drive under 25 mph on local roads.

The battery is new and terminals clean. Tightening the positive lead on the battery does nothing, the fuses are intact, turbo air intake is hole free and the engine recently has it's 92,000 mile engine service done. It is very well maintained has only a few problems with a noisy fuel pump and rust spots in the undercarriage.

Attempting to start the car after it dies and runs off the road usually works. It just comes back to life as if nothing as happened. Sometimes the car has no electricity at all and I have to hit the positive terminal on the battery with a plastic cap to make it start.

The last time I tried to work on the battery the positive terminal shorted onto the frame of the car. On Friday the car will get serviced but does anyone know what could be causing the problem or is it even worth keeping?

Car:
1990 740 Turbo Volvo station wagon, 93K miles

Battery:
NAPA Legend International 75
Serial # 012502
BCI NO 47
CA@ 32F 750
CA@ 0F 600

 

Perhaps shorting the positive to the chassis fried the electrically bits?

I can't imagine it doing that, though, since you obviously disconnected the negative terminal of the battery before even considering doing any electrical work on the car... right?

What happens if you put it in neutral and try to start the motor again while rolling?

I mean, if you can start it when it's rolling, it's really not that big of a deal. My Maxima did that all the time. You'd be going down the highway and the damn thing would stall. Just punch the clutch, crank the starter, and you're golden.

 

When the battery grounded to the frame I was trying to tighten a loose positive terminal. A spark burned a chunk out of metal off the wrench for the split second it touched a piece of metal. The negative terminal was connected when it shorted so the car might be fried.

As a general rule always disconnect the negative terminal while working around hot batteries and in the case of installing new batteries connect the negative lead first and then the positive carefully avoiding metal or is it the other way around?

Volvo station wagons are front heavy and when the power steering fails it is hard to control the car without getting into an accident. The car has a automatic transmission and it not have the option of opening the clutch.

Edit: The grounding wire to the battery is attached to the negative terminal and the piece of metal it shorted against is not directly attached to the frame of the car, rather it held screws to keep a odd plastic container away from the battery.

 

I think it shortec out and damaged the wire. I bet the engine dies because the battery gets shaken loose then you get another short and the electrical system dies.

FYI put the auto into neutral when this hapens and slightly tug on the hand break to slow it down.

TO be honest with you though. If you don't fix the thing, consider junking it simply because its a death trap.

 

I've always thought it hilariously unsafe how some cars brakes stop working if the electrics fail. I'm assuming it's just the servo assistance that dies?

Glad my car doesn't have any of that nonsense

 

Could be a bad earth strap. Get that checked.


I'm sure the brakes don't stop working entirely though, having worked on a few volvo's. you just need to press a little harder.

And what's all this nonsense about not being able to steer without power steering? Grow some arm muscles boy!

 

I was about to say the same thing....but its just not the same for me....lol

And your brakes aint dead....like Nih said, PRESS HARDER or pump it two or three times, youll find it should get harder and slow you down better, its just the servo assitance that dies.

 

The car will get its entire electrical system from the battery up checked and if the damage is greater than $2,000 the engine is fried and not worth keeping. At the positive terminal where it splits into various wires to the engine their is corrosion on the wire.

I can drive the car without power steering but it is the surprise of it failing that causes the problem. One moment it can turn on a dime and a second later the steering wheel is hard to turn. Makes merging into traffic exciting for once.

Thanks for the help and I will let you know what the mechanic finds out.

 

A car brakes must work when the engine is dead surely it would be illegal for them not too??? I think most poeple are used to the servo assist and think there not working when they actaully are you may have to pump them a few times,

Go see a professional your life not worth the risking or that of someone else. a bad battery or conecting termimal would not cause this fault(unless the battery shorting), you just get a charge warning sign as you car alternator does all the work once the car is fired up, summet fired i would expect

 

sounds more like an engine problem than an electrical one, the power steering and servo assistance on the brakes are both reliant on the engine running to work, a bad battery would just make it difficult to start, i would also get the fuel filter checked for crap inside it and the injectors for being gunked up

 

Most power brakes I've seen use the power from the engine. With no motor they work, but they don't work as well as manual brakes. Manual brakes are designed to be used that way. Power brakes with no power aren't, and while you can slow down with them, it's very weak braking, especially on a heavy car.

I know in my car at least, without the engine running, the brakes can barely keep the car from rolling down a 3% grade, much less stop a car from a high speed.

Yeah, for autos, you can throw it in neutral and restart the motor. I do it a lot.

 

Vacuum boosted brakes usually have a reserve that allows 2 or 3 full power applications, after that pump the pedal.
electrical servo assisted ones will work perfectly well with no juice you've just got to push the pedal all the way down.

you sure you've still got some pads.

and no the battery isn't working loose and killing the engine. the alternator should keep the engine chugging along sans battery

 

Hence why I think it's likely to be an earth issue. Check all the connections to the engine block itself.

 

if you arced from positive terminal to a screw that goes into the car's body, with the negative terminal of the battery still connected, you ground out and shorted the system...

chances are, it's the car's computer, or some relay that is now fried or faulty

 

I doubt this, because it's an intermittent problem.

 

The car was loosing power due to a loose positive terminal coated with corrosion. When I hit a bump or the battery was shaken the car would loose electricity. In southern Maine the roads get potholes and cracks from the frost heaves every fall making them rough to drive on. Normally this is not a problem but when the battery fails from rough road surfaces it can be dangerous.

In the future I will always remove the negative terminal while working on the battery. Thank you for all the help and advice.

 

Thats very odd i must say, i would have your alternator checked out then? might be summet untoward with it, the battery fault shouldnt cause problems unless there a fault with your alternator.

 

In my experience, even if the engine is already running, disconnecting the battery even for a second will shut off the car.

 

Yeah, I would've thought the battery would help provide a smooth current with a good (well, better) ground whilst the power is coming from the alternator?

 

The mechanic ran a diagnostic utility to the engine to find any problems with the wires. In the bill they only charged $38 for checking the starting and charging system before re-seating the positive terminal. The engine stopped making odd vibrations while accelerating and the radio started to work again.

For an old car everything in it depended on the battery and their was enough residual energy to power the warning lights for three seconds after the engine was cut. It is not long enough to park the car but still give enough time to see that something is not right and take action to avoid an accident.