He lives in some one horse town in the middle of nowhere. I'd have to ask the name of the place. He's an OTR trucker so his real home is his seat

 

So he lives in El Paso?

 

Ol' Friz has finally found a way to shut Sweetsie up - he delivers the line before the cat can get to it!

I hate to say it but you could ALMOST buy another C-4 with that $2500! And like several others have noted, you took it to the shop for A and he tells you you need B,C,D and E. That in itself is a red flag. Either the guy is a shyster, or else he has no clue how to solve the problem you requested help on.

Duke I realize not everyone wants to do their own wrench work, but if you are so inclined you can not only save money but you'll become better and better at it as you build knowledge and confidence. We ALL screw up but even that is educational.

Start with a GOOD set of basic tools - NOT HF for those, personally I like Craftsman from Sears but Kobalt is good too (Loews). Put your money into a basic set, add to it as needed, take care of them and it will pay you back MANY times over in saved mechanics fees.

Best of all, you will understand your car SO much better. Rely on this forum, have some self confidence, and you'll never look back!

 

Undue the battery cables and see if the battery will take a charce. You have a battery problem if it doesen't take a charge. Rich

 

That would be when I grabbed my chest, staggered, and said "I'm coming to join you Elizabeth!"

 

It takes a charge, but I only drive it on weekends. I missed a weekend when the snow was almost as high as the car. When I went out to just run it...zippo.

I have a diehard charger, brand new, that either reads that it can't find a battery, or when it does, won't charge it all the way. Yet the AAA guy had it started in about 2 seconds.

 

OK, you already have the advice about the tester etc. If you don't have the time or the weather to do all that right now, get it good and charged and disconnect the cable and wait 2 weeks. If it goes down I'd suggest the battery is bad. Not sure I follow what you are saying about your charger but it sounds like that may be bum. A decent battery charger is not only relatively inexpensive, it's something that should be in every garage, basic equipment. Not something you use that often, but why be without a good working one?

 

perxactly.

 

completely.

 

Yes, if a battery "won't take a charge", it may be toast. But, "It Ain't Necessarily So..."(as the song goes), depending on the charger initially connected to a seriously discharged battery. Some "smart" chargers do a quick check and will falsely pronounce the battery as "DOA" and will not attempt to charge it. However, the abused battery may often be salvageable. It may just need some "intensive care" to revive it to provide some measure of good service after recovery.

In a lead acid battery that becomes fully discharged for some reason, the electrolytic solution (sulphuric acid/water) will have combined with the lead - i.e. sufated (PbSO4) to the extent there is very little electrolyte left. As result, very little current will flow when a charger in connected, and some automatic chargers (e.g. the Black & Decker Smart Charger - for one) can falsely determine the battery to be bad, throw a code to the effect, and won't attempt further charging.

Not so fast! I have often found that by connecting a dumb "el cheapo" trickle charger to a fully discharge battery that it may be revived to live again after all! Persistence of the dumb charger (it doesn't know squat about batteries) is what is needed to bring a seriously discharged ("sulfated") battery back to life. Once the battery is out of "intensive care", a serious battery charger will assess the battery as acceptable and lay some serious de-sulfating charging to it, thus bringing it to a fully charged state.

I've used this trick to revive lead acid batteries many times. Generally I find it takes about 24 hours with a cheapo trickle charger to bring a salvageable battery up to the point a "real" charger can take over. Then if the "smart" charger rejects the battery (after 24 hours or so on the cheapo trickle charger), the battery needs to be replaced...RIP.

Also, from my experience, if a (car i.e. non-deep discharge) lead-acid battery is allowed to be run down flat, even if it can be revived in the manner described, the service life expectancy may be reduced - sometimes significantly. (A "normal" life expectancy for a well maintained battery is 5 years. Once it has been run completely flat, I've seen them fail in as little as 3 years, IF it was possible to revive it at all. For what it's worth).

I have 8 batteries to maintain 'round the place; a real PIA, to keep up with, were it not for those little "800" Battery Tenders. I never have to think about the batteries anymore...I'm just sayin'.

P.

 

I learn something new every day! Thanks Paul!

 

I do too, but I think I have more to learn too
Thanks for all the replies and offers to help, now I know why it's a brotherhood

 

definitely write up a review. I'm going to tackle mine this spring.
Tips?
Where to buy?

 

For sure!!

 

It was 8 years ago, but I remember a few things clear as a bell....

1. When changing the rear dog bone bushings, note the two holes in the frame of the car next to the nut that holds the dog bone in place....put a piece of tape over them before loosening anything. If you don't, you WILL drop the nut in the frame, and you WON'T be able to get it back out. No, I didn't do this...but I would have. Somebody else warned me.

2. If you're using poly, use the silicone lube generously and the won't squeak.......as bad anyway.

3. Pick up a dremel with a small wire brush bit. Comes in handy for cleaning out inner bores of rubber that has fused itself to the metal.

4. Do one side at a time....you can use the other side as a reference if you forget how something goes together.

There's more.....I think there are still some pics in my profile of my suspension rebuild....if not, they're on my old PC and I'll have to dig them up.

 

Another neat one thats cheap can be had from Oreillys, its $20 and plugs into your cigarette lighter tells you what volts youre at also.

Get a multimeter and you can find this yourself. Little green with electrical myself but doesnt seem too bad.

 

No wonder he remembers even though it was 8 years ago - he sure didn't want to drop his dog bones! (what if you're a Canadian cat instead?)

I have not done that particular job but I agree with saving one side as a reference for the other - good advice!

 

Buy a cheap DVM (digital volt meter) that has an AMPs input. Disconnet the negative battery cable and put the amp meter between the battery cable and battery. This is assuming the battery is charged. I think you mentioned your battery charger won't charge the battery which is a problem with either the charger or battery and needs to be solved first. If you have the DVM mentioned connect the battery charger to the battery and see if it putting voltage out. If not try it on another car or truck to see if you battery has an open cell and defective. If the battery is no good they all have a warantee of some sort. Was the battery going dead the reason you bought a new one might be the first question.

Once you have a charged battery in the car with the DMV connectted read the amp meter it should be drawing very little a couple of milliamps. You have to do this obvilously with the doors closed so you are not reading the draw from interior lights or tape the doorswitch closed so the lights go out. If there is more that a couple of milliamps draw pull fuses one at a time and with some luck you will be able to narrow it down to a particular circuit. This will not solve the problem but at least you now know where to look rather than the entire car.

If you buy 100 bucks worth of hand tools a DVM and factory service manual I am sure you can do routine things. If you have a friend or neighbor that has a garage see if you can borrow it on a Saturday or Sunday to do some trouble shooting it is not like you are going to dissable the car just fine a small electrical problem. Even if you find it and don't have the part you can get it and do the repair the following weekend.

Oh tell the mechanic you wanted the battery draw fixed not a complete restoration project..sigh..

Dave

 

when that work is done about a month later another $3,000 will be needed...My C4 was nothing but problems when bought with 47,000 miles...Replaced trans that's fun to do only costs a few thousand...