Completely Dead Sidekick

[mrblonde]

I'm a bit stumped, and heres why. I have a 92 sidekick sohc 4 door with 4x4. Recently it's been acting funny every now an then when I try to start it. As in it wouldn't start up immediately. Sunday it took me around 20 minutes to start after repeated tries of sitting in a parking lot. Today I went to put gas in the car. When I returned to start it nothing happened. As in the engine didn't turn, the lights didn't work along with the radio and wipers. All dead. When the wife came to jump it the same thing....nothing.

I took the battery and it checked out as fine along with my starter and alternator all being ok. So now I am stumped. Any help would be greatly appreciated in this matter.

[kick-fix]

lights didn't work along with the radio and wipers

yoiu have complete elect. power failure, starting is the least of worries.
working the head lights is best, th is is the simple path.
Headlites are wired to Hot at all times buss ( that way they always work)
but not this time, huh?
BTW: always post 8v or 16v so we can look at right elect. drawings.
valve count?, i bet yours is 16v. on dah motor.

first you need some drawings.

guessing, bad battery, bad battery terms(never ever cleaned is must be )
then corrosion on the Fender FUSE box (aka: fusable links by suz)



have 2 , distra and HL.

first drawing, charging, see that wire across the top of page.
that IS THE HOT AT ALL TIMES FEED for WHOLE CAR.
see second drawing,
your HL are feed from the above via 2 fuses.


to get back power (good bat)
you need power from the positive batter post to the HOT ALL TIME BUSS.
and you need power from the NEG. battery post to the TOP of the starter mounting bolt.
there is one more important ground (body) but you didnt tell motor type
so cant point to it.

cheers.

[kick-fix]

see common problems section on my sig link web page
bad ground
bad power
full docs.

do you have any type of voltmeter?

[keithert]

Mine was cranking and cranking and either not starting or almost starting. I replaced the plugs, distributor cap and wires and now it runs very well. Might be worth a try doing the basic stuff.

[mrblonde]

Sorry forgot to mention it initially. Yes it's a 16 valve engine. And yes I have a voltmeter

[kick-fix]

better is to step back and think about this.

1. bad motor
2. bad EFI (sensors,fuel pressures low, injector dead, clogged, leaking....)
3. bad tune up (oops tune ups)
4. Bad starter
5. or bad electrical supply.

as soon as he said, LIGHTS.
we know the problem.!!

how did i know that?

well, I know that, because the lights are hardwired to the battery by the most direct path possible ( this is no accident, it's by design, for safety)

so take the voltmeter and find out why the lights are dead.?
WHEN, that is corrected the car will start. ( unless there are 2 problems , but 1 at a time please; we only have 2 hands)

in military training they teach (well, they did)
always check all functions of the system. (before flying off to oblivion)
always compare any failures to the design of the system, to each other (drawings help)
always fix the simple stuff first, if they are related.

bingo , no lights, no power to main fuse box, no power to box, no power to starter solenoid.

see? Dont make it hard, fix the power failure. ( i have 4 pages dedicated to that on my we page. no crank, no start,bad grounds , bad power,just look)
now lets fix it.

best time to fix it is when its broke ( unless you want to inspect all the lighting power path points , gee, i'd already have that done)
troubling shooting is a bummer with a working circuit. truly. a real brain twister ,id not want anyone to experience. Cant fix it if it aint broke. hahahaha

lets say it happens again.
i whip out my trusty $2.99-HarborFright (joke name) voltmeter and jump in to the 60 amp fuse on the finder buse block.
both sides. input and output.

ground to the body metal (black lead) ,red lead probing in 20vdc scale.
lights dim or out. (failed)
expect 12.5 volts at least.

what you do, next depends on what you get.

lets say you read 8v.
bad.
immediately , go to the battery terms (not the out side but the actual center posts of the battery )
12.5v.

you have bad wiring (this means connectors too, as they are part)

this happens in under 2 min. flat.

any time you get low voltage , this is what you do , on all kicks.

you can key on and repeat this at the CIG lighter.
same test , same reactions ,same conclusions..

ask more questions.
glad to help.

[mrblonde]

Ok so here is my new gripe. Turns out it was a loose negative battery cable. I did my best to ground it to the frame saturday. Drove it to work yesterday with no problems. On the way in this morning it started acting weird with the electrics. I assume its' the battery cable again but haven't checked yet. I don't have the negative cable hooked to the starter. I know this is problably a major no no. One question I have is does the negative cable go to the inside post on the starter? i.e. the post with the black connector wire and is there any other place I could attach the cable securely outside of that post if I need to? End rant.

[Nor'Easter]

You don`t want ANY negatively charged wire going to the starter! Negative battery voltage goes to ground ONLY!

The large wire to the starter may be black but it should be connected to battery positive on one end and the insulated post on the starter on the other end.

[mrblonde]

Ok just got back from trying it at lunch. The lights seem to work and it when I turn the key instead of turning over there is a series of rapid clicks made under the hood. Any ideas as to what this could be?

[Bex]

Fried starter/solenoid because negative battery cable had been hooked up to starter??