Disco will not turn over

[disco13]

Hello,
I have a 97 disco with 135xxx miles on it. While driving home the other night the headlights, fuel guage, radio, and speedo (this is all that I noticed) started to flicker on and off. THis happened 3 times in a 5 mile period. I turned off everything but the lights and finshed the ride home approx. 15 more miles, with no more issues. The engine never showed any signs of dying. In the morning I went out to start her up and nothing. The battery was completely drained. I have somewhat issolated the drain to the 60 amp fuse that controls the CDL, Win-lift and rear blower. I found this out by replacing the battery with a fully charged one (12.4v) and removing the fuses one by one. With this new battery in place and jump starting from my wifes car I have power but will not turn over. Here are her current symptoms

1.all interio and exterior lights come on
2.radio comes on but turns off when key is turned over(aftermarket)
3.after turning key the chime goes from ding to a steady chime
4.i can hear several relays clicking inside the car
a. under passengers side foot well
b. in ceneter console area
5. in the engine bay lots of clicking in quick succesion

So I have:
a new alternator (after replacing 3 of them last year just kept eating them up) with no problems from that part lately
new battery
new starter replaced about a week ago

I am deperate, hate the dealership,and have only one car out in the country.

I am considering abbandoning her and making her yard art if I cant get her going and buying a Ygo

please help

 

[joey]

Sounds to me like you have some corrosion in the fuse box or dead short in you wiring... possible warm spot for mice?

 

[disco13]

Hey Joey,
Thanks for the reply. Mice could always be a problem, we do have an excellent "killer" cat so Id say unlikely. Would a dead short allow me to get home and then drain the battery? If so would this also explain the inability to crank over? I did notice that the 60 amp line controlled the radio and clock in addition to the fore mentioned CDL Winlift and rear blower. I really dont want to buy a Yugo

I just tried to "jump" the starter and nothing either by going between the starter and solenoid terminals or by going to the starter ignition wire by way of second car jumping mine. Could a bad starter have drained the battery and caused intermitent power issues?

onca again thanks to any and all who try to help those in need,.
Troy

 

[greg409]

What joey said, the symptoms are logical with a major short (possibly intermittent)

the (3) new alternators didn't like the heavy loads & probably blew their rectifiers (diodes)

the resulting low voltage probably causes your lights & acc's to flicker. not to mention beating the crap out of the battery,

you might try pulling the under hood fuse box off it's mount, and inspecting the hell out of it.

this short (if such) has to be a pretty good one. check all your main wiring even down to the starter (corrosion or guck around solenoid terminals)

I often use my technician's mirror (swivel head)

luck,greg

 

[disco13]

Starter is dead, no life at all, getting a new one on Tues.

Fuse box is clean pulled it out took off the under cover looks good.

I have the drain isolated to the CDL/Wi-Lift/Rear Blower line. 60a

In the process of tracking this down through the rave manual any ideas?

 

[beemer]

Starter is dead, no life at all, getting a new one on Tues.

Fuse box is clean pulled it out took off the under cover looks good.

I have the drain isolated to the CDL/Wi-Lift/Rear Blower line. 60a

In the process of tracking this down through the rave manual any ideas?

Cable cutter problem solved. Sorry couldn't resist being a wise ass, been there done that almost with the electrical on my 95 D1. Enough electrical problems to stump an electrician.
Time to get your meeter out and ring out the wiring harness of that circuit.

 

[disco13]

Faulty starter was the reason for the no turn over portion of the problem.

Power drain is from the power seats. Pulled the fuses under the driverside seat no drain. They do not work anyways.

 

[joey]

hmmm good info to have... I am working on building some custom seat brackets to add aftermarket seats...

 

[alzerom]

Electrically speaking a seat heater could have been the problem all along. When tungsten wires fail they usually create a short near the insertion point (right in the connector clip). My guess is you are a regular daily driver so the battery never drained but your commute just managed to keep it charged for the next day, while the poor alternator was over-working hard to completely restore the battery and kept destroying itself.

Once last year when your seat got wet did you connect the heater connectors and there was a tiny little spark but you didn't think much of it?