bicycle_ben

if it was my ignition circuit switch that was cutting out the idiot lights would go off and the car would die but the car stays running with the idiot lights on till it runs out of fuel. something is telling the idiot lights to come on and fuel pump to shut off

the switches are 30A and i put them in there because i got a key stuck in the tumblers. i just ran the wires from the stock switch which sits behind the tumblers into my switches. all the switches and all the fusable links show continuity on my multi meter.

the fuse-able links seem to be good. i started the car today and it ran fine with 14.5V at the battery. i watched the temp gage because it seemed to die when it got to its warmed up mark. sure enough right as it got to its normal warmed up mark the car's volt meter dropped from 14V to 12V and then the idiot lights came on. i re tested voltage while the car was still running with the idiot lights on and got 12.7v. the tachometer was still alive and reading correctly. is there some kind of temp switch to kill the car when things get too hot which might be bad and tripping too early?

all the fuses in the panel are good and all the ones in the wiring that i have found have been good. the weird part is how its a warmed up thing - id be willing to bet that it will fire right up tomorrow morning and run for 5 minutes, the idiot lights will come on for 30 seconds and then the car will die. im guessing that when the idiot lights come on the fuel pump gets killed and thats what actually makes the engine die. are there any breakers in the system that will pop and then reset when they cool off?

ok popped in a fresh alternator to go with the fresh voltage regulator i had installed. the car starts right up and runs for about 5 minutes at which point the idiot lights come on and the sound of the motor changes. it sounded like it was running a little faster and possibly a little leaner because the sound was more sharp and barking than normal. while the engine was running i checked for AC and DC voltage. for AC i got about .02 V so thats well within normal range and i got a little over 14V DC so that was also good. when the idiot lights came on i re tested for AC and still got about .02 V. sadly i was not able to get a reading for DC before the car died because i jumped in the car and feathered the throttle which kept it alive for a few more seconds. i then let the car sit for a minute after which i was able to get it started but it would not run. could it be that something is failing and telling the fuel pump to shut off ?

my dad came with his truck this morning to tow me home. i decided to try and drive the car home on its own power just for fun and it fired right up. i made it about 4 miles down the road when it did the thing where the idiot lights come on but the car is still running. i pulled over and turned the car off because it was a good place to hook up a tow and i didnt want to wait to see how long it would run before it died. now that its home i can pull things apart and test for resistance and hopefully i can catch it in the broken state and find the problem.

its just that my car has occasionally found a state where the engine is running but the idiot lights are still on my thought process is that figuring out what tells those lights to turn off when the car is running will lead me to the source of the problem.

and the plot thickens! i figured something like that would be in there to shut off the fuel if the car wasnt getting spark (bit of a safety issue if its just squirting fuel all over and stuff) ill try and get my dad to come out with his truck and drag this poor thing back to my house so i can fight with it somewhere other than a gas station parking lot ill check resistance on stuff and play with wires tomorrow morning if all goes well. does anyone know how the car decides to turn off and on the idiot lights on the dash? they are all on when the ignition is on but the car is not running and then all go off when the car is running. how does the car know its running? it cant be the alternator charging because if that was the case all the idiot lights would come on when it dies instead of just the charge light.

you are talking about replacing the ignition switch - like the little circular switch behind the key? if thats the case ive already done that and its all nice heavy coper wire which shouldnt cause this problem. the fact that the idiot lights come on means that the circuit is still connected. i dont have a key, just some toggle switches and a push button ok so what tells the idiot lights on the dash to turn off when the motor is running? If a running engine takes more current than an ignition on stalled engine, then a trickle drain on the battery means turn all the idiot lights on, but a big drain means turn just the charge light on? what thing in the wiring decides when to turn the idiot lights on? i think this is where im going to make progress.

yeah it ran fine for 2 x 2 mile trips and 2 x 20 mile trips after which it started to die again. i pulled over and then re started it so i was able to limp it off the freeway. I ended up pushing it into a gas station. another friend of mine also suggested the ignition module but they are between 140 and 240 bucks so ill fiddle with other things first. i checked all my connections along the ignition wiring as best i could. everything seemed to be in good shape, tight and no corrosion. ill have to see if i can talk someone into going out there with me so i can pull a plug and see if im getting spark or not and bring a can of starter fluid to test for fuel. now that im thinking about it, the fact that it has lit up all the idiot lights while running means it must have something to do with the ignition wiring.

the cap, rotor and spark plug wires are new ish so i dont think they are at fault. i put a new regulator in there this afternoon and it fired right up. the battery was charging and all the idiot lights were off. so hopefully this fixed it!

thanks! ill pull the alternator here this morning, get it tested and get a new one in there if its no good. hopefully this takes care of the issue and i dont have to go wire hunting ... i just had a thought - the old alternators dont have the voltage regulators built in. is the alternator bad or is the volt regulator bad ?

my 81 wagon is starting harder now that its warm and i had an 84 toyota truck that started hard in the summer. i think its just because the choke doesnt engage fully when its warm - sticky or a bad spring or something

so the last couple of times ive driven my subie its died randomly while im driving it. i have an 81 wagon and the wiring is a mess in it. symptoms are as follows but happen in no particular order: the motor is running and the volt meter shows 12 volts instead of the normal 16ish volts BUT the charge light (not charging) is NOT on. the motor is running but all the idiot lights you normally see when the motor is not running are showing. the motor dies but was able to re start several times. motor turns over but will not run. it seems to me that if it was a bad alternator the charge light would come on and the motor would continue to run off of the charge remaining in the battery. the fact that the battery was still full enough to turn over the engine easily means to me that the alternator is still working and there is more than enough juice in the battery to get spark. could a dead fuse do this to me ? maybe whatever wire tells the idiot lights to turn off when the motor is running also control the spark ? its 2am here and i dont care any more. ill get up tomorrow morning and see if someone else has any bright ideas. hopefully some crack heads havnt broken into it where it sits in portland...

hey i dont care if you guys copy me - id be proud actually! this is where im getting my graphics stencil cut: http://www.bclaserworks.com/cutting.html its going to be on this thin static cling plastic stuff so i shouldnt need to even tape it on what i really need now is some warm dry, non windy days to start this painting thing. i have sand paper, 6 cans of primer and 6 cans of blue. my plan is to see how well the primer covers things and then buy more primer and blue accordingly. first ive got to brush the rust out of a few spots, heavy sand a few chips and stuff then give the whole car a light once over with some 400. ill prime the car, sand the rough spots out and re spot prime them. light sand and then do a coat of blue. let it go for a day and then do one more coat of blue. ill let that go a couple of days and then do the graphics and a clear coat just to protect my spray paint investment a little something like 8 years ago i spray painted my parents truck camo with a single coat of cheep fred meyer paint without even so much as sanding the truck. its just recently started to flake off in places. im not real worried about a 100 year show car quality paint job, if this trash paint lasts 2 years ill be happy - its un likely ill still own the car that far down the road ... who am i kidding, its still going to be running and ill still be too poor to buy a new one

i was able to apply the proper amount of force with a sledge hammer and a sway bar turned pry bar off some other car and now i have matching struts just got off work but have to be back at 7am - back to backs are the suck, must go to bed but before i go: first: i need warm days now so i can paint! second: i discovered my left side E brake is sticky and drags unless manually released - ill fight with that tomorrow or wednesday third: i got new tires! little mud/snow tires

haha no way - this IS a small world! when you saw the car on gard rd it was parked at my parents house. ill take it back out there to paint it because i dont think people in lake oswego are allowed to spray paint 30 year old cars in their driveways ..... anyway i went by wally world on my way home and figured that 6 would cover the car so i got 12 cans - 6 primer and 6 blue. spraypaint at wal-mart is wicked cheep, i payed as much for masking tape as i did the paint! i have some 150 grit paper around somewhere which will take out some of the chips - this isnt a show car so who cares if the paint isnt perfect... no need for elevndy billion grit wet sanding or anything silly like that. ill have my Dad cut the graphics stencil on his laser and then find some bright green paint and put that on later. i might even splurge and put some clear coat over the graphics so nothing flakes off. i think they might also have put a strut in my wagon off the newer wagon. the front right on mine is the stock 81 suspension where there is no ride height adjust but the left side has the newer kind where you can turn the two bolts and change the height. i found an 83 wagon at the tigard junk yard and intended to take a strut off of it to match my other adjustable one but it didnt want to go home with me. it was quite stuck but ill go back tomorrow morning (i guess its this morning now because its late enough) and bring more precision adjustment devices to see if i cant take it home with me.

indeed they are! i got the car at the beavercreek junk yard - do you happen to be/know the previous owner(s)

the picture is a quick hack but you get the idea. anyway how many cans of spray paint do you guy figure it will take to do one full coat of paint ?

so i did a little rough 4 wheeling over my weekend and it seems to have "fixed" whatever the problem was...

ive got an 81 wagon and the steering feels fine when you are making shallow turns. when i make a sharp turn it turns into the corner fine, it just sticks once its turned. when its sitting on snow, gravel or something else slippery the wheel turns back and forth just like id expect out of a little car with no power steering. it also feels free when the front is up on blocks. when making sharp turns on snow i also dont feel it stick so i think mine has something to do with the alignment of the tires causing them to bind when turned sharp

i have a 1981 wagon and it pulls a little to the left and if you go into a tight turn the wheel wont straighten back out unless you turn it really hard. when i turn into the corner the wheel feels just like id expect a little non power steering car to feel its just that once you are in the turn the wheel feels stuck and the car wants to keep turning. ive noticed that when im spinning around in the snow it doesnt feel stuck like that so it must have something to do with the alignment of the tires which doesnt matter when they are sliding freely on snow. can i mess with this my self? - im poor and turning my own wrenches is cheaper than paying a shop to do it plus i get the extra benefit of learning stuff

the needle on the dash comes all the way up to the line for normal operating temp but who knows how accurate that poor thing is. ill take apart the blender goodness on my weekend and see what all is going on in there.

i have an 81 wagon and my heater doesnt seem to get hot enough for my tastes. now take into account that im a guy who does snow camping and rides a motorcycle every day of the year that there isnt snow on the ground so im no stranger to the cold. the heater does get warm and blows air it just doesnt get hot enough when its below 32 outside. is there anything i can do to spiff up the heater?