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powewr draw?? problem

about a week ago i started losing the pre sets on my radio stations(57 beetle converted to 12v).when i would start the car i would notice the radio eaither not come on right away or flash or dim when i turn on the headlights(onetime radio came on but no headlights) for a few minutes. i had a leak under the hood and some of the fuses were corroded i swapped out the fuse block and new fuses in hopes that it would cure the problem well the wife came home yesterday and said the car lost all power and died (we have an alarm on the car were you have to touch a metal battery looking thing to the flashing light before you can start it) alarm light starts flashing and alarm started to go off,touched the button fired right up and away she went,well it happened one more time on the way home all i can tell for sure is that there is a definate power draw when i start the car with the stero dimming ect..i am at a loss on this one electrical stuff is not my strong point??? any ideas on where to start i converted to an alt in the summer also has a 1year old battery. about a month or so ago i swapped the headlights for halogens (not the super bright ones) does this sound like a ground problem?55amp can't keep up? i should also mention that the battery does not have a problem has lots of power does not turn over slowly even when the car died it fired right back up again.it is like a breaker goes off and resets itself???? thanks russ

Reply to
Russ
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A voltmeter will be the best tool to track this.

Oh.....and a diagram:

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On your car, ALL power up front is distributed from the Headlight switch. Often, the switch terminals become overloaded and develop high resistance. Get under there with a bright light and look for signs of burning.

If you don't see anything obvious, connect the voltmeter from chassis to various points on the Main power from the switch (Term # 30) and see what happens when you turn the key to start.

If no problem there, maybe move on to the Ignition switch, etc.

Speedy Jim

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Reply to
Speedy Jim

ok as of late i have thought i have smelt a burning contact but very faint.closer inspection i have found burned terminals on the ignition switch.(they are corroded) so does this mean if i replace the switch with a new one i will be ok or have i overloaded the power with the alarm and radio attatched to it??both of them have been on the car for 2 1/2 years no problem

thanks for your help much appriciated Jim

Reply to
Russ

I would check the battery voltage with the car off. On a new battery you may see as much as 13.1 volts, but normally it's been my experience that a battery in good condition will usually sit around

12.6 volts. Once the car is started, you should see this go up to something between 13-15 volts.

You mentioned corrosion on the fuseblock, did this possibly get into the ignition switch as well? How about the wiring? Did the wiring get damaged at all(corroded connectors on the ends of the wires?). How about the battery terminals and the battery ground connection to the body of the car? Another place to check would be the ground strap between the transaxle and the body.

Losing -everything- while driving tells me that the problem is probably a bad ground connection at the battery, bad positive cable going to the fuse block, or possibly a problem with the charging system.

Chris

Reply to
Hal

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