Situation:
Firefly won't start after highway driving (ok in town). Brand new battery. Altenator checks out ok, charging while running with a load (voltmeter across terminals). Starter seems to be in good working order.
I narrowed it down to a short (drain) on the "tail" lights circuit after checking pulling one fuse at a time with a meter between the neg post and neg battery clamp. I believe this drain should be fixed before further trying to find the starting problem.
Using the voltmeter and the appropriately pulled fuse, I can depress the brake pedal and stop the drain, I can also stop the drain by turning on the headlights. Note: if I just turn on the parking lights only, the drain is still apparent?!?! The dome light seems to be on this circuit as well, is this normal? I disconnected the "tail" lights while anylizing the drain and it did not go away. Seems to me that the circuits are not what they are labeled?!?!
This problem occurs after highway driving and then turning off the car. I then can immediately try to start the car and NOTHING happens. No clicking, but the dash indicator lights do work. When this happens, I can get a jump from another car and everything fires up ok. After sitting for a while, maybe one hour or so, the car will start.
I guess the next thing to do is to test the "tail" lights circuit and out exactly what is being used on that cicuit as it seems to be not the tail lights, but actually the brake lights, headlights and dome light, so far.
Could the problem be something as simple as a worn wire or a bad connector, but where would it be in the car????
All help much appreciated. Mark