Dougs63

Just interested in any forum opinions on my '94's recent behavior. To make it short, here's a summary:

1. Car fails to turnover, just a "clunk" when the ignition is turned on.

2. Rebuilt starter and solenoid - still get a "clunk" when trying to start.

3. "Wiggle" fuse link wires behind the battery - car starts, runs and starts fine for 4 weeks.

4. Drive car, everything fine, park in driveway. Go out later to move car into the garage and its electrically dead - as if the battery was disconnected.

5. Wiggle fuse links again, but this time no-start, still dead car.

6. Go out the next morning, touch nothing, and the car starts right up.

7. Clean all connections, grounds, etc. and car has been fine since, but feel like I need to do something to avoid being stranded.

I'm thinking of replacing the two fuse link orange wires behind the battery as shown in the picture below. Note the discoloration on the smaller wire - which have been replaced, apparently, by the previous owner.

Any thoughts here - should I go ahead and put in a new alternator as well? It has a lot of bearing noise when it first starts up.

What would cause the fuse link wires to be so "flaky"?

antfarmer2

Did you just now clean the jump block behind the battery? That is where mine gave me trouble.
Clean that drain tube since your in there.

BrandensBeast

Maybe you messing with things is pissing the car off and giving you a hard time, just kidding! Hopefully you get it figured out.

Dougs63

I've pretty much cleaned and darn near polished all the ground wires.

Even cleaned up the battery terminal connectors with my Dremel.

As for now, the car is running and starting fine.

The brown color on the smaller link almost looks like it may have overheated at one point - just not enough to break the connection.

I believe those two links go back to the alternator & voltage regulator, which is why I'm thinking of going ahead and replacing the alternator as well as the fusible links.

antfarmer2

If you replace the links make sure they are at least 9 inches long.

TorchTarga94

Is your VATS bypassed? If not, do you have another key you can try?

Dougs63

VATS has not been bypassed- but I tried both keys I have and neither one would start the car. When the car was dead-it was dead as if the battery was out of the car. No interior lights, no flashing "SECURITY" on the cluster when the door was opened - nothing.

Dougs63

I'm reviving this old thread as I was able to finally pin down my intermittent starting problem to a corroded positive battery cable.

The primary cable to the starter looked almost brand new, but it was the two secondary cables that were corroded and cracked. I've posted a few pics below. Since its replacement, I've started the car dozens of times with no problem.

Replacement was a bit of a pain, but I used a cord tied to the starter end of the battery cable and pulled it through the engine bay - then tied on the new cable and reversed the pulling direction. Took me a couple of hours to finally get the new cable back in place as original.

Hope this may help someone else.

antfarmer2

Good job that does not look like factory to me.

BrandensBeast

Congrats on fixing it!

93jockey

Somewhere related- had some work done on my alternator and they forgot to tighten the nut to the (+) pos cable. Net net was that the lug on the alternator got super hot along with the cable and it fried the insulation and shielding off of the cable. Got a battery check light and the batt started to drain. Could be that either the lug wasn't tightened to the batt or enough gunk built up to create resistance that the current will try to overcome.