Sometimes when i get in my car, once i turn the key to the Start position my entire electrical system shuts off. Absolutely nothing works and everything goes dark. Nothing turns back on until i get out of the car and wiggle the black wire from the battery. This can go on and on for hours. Then again, sometimes I go months without an issue. I have had the battery, starter, and alternator tested by AutoZone and they say it is all working properly. What the heck is my issue?!?
Electrical System issue on a 1997 Town Car
- Thread starter JDGordon
- Start date
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- electrical ignition town car
Town
Senior Member
The black wire to the battery is usually the neg battery cable (the ground cable) and will connect to the body right beside the battery terminal and frame and a second cable connects to the engine ground. The other battery cable is usually the positive battery cable and is red and often two red wires, one going to the battery junction box and the other going to the starter solenoid. That info is just in case someone has changed the wires from stock.
The most likely possibilies are that the cable is broken or the connections are loose. You will need a voltmeter to check voltage across the battery terminals themselves to ensure the posts are making a good connection, and the cable connection at the post and at the first connection of the cables at the neg and pos ends. That should help to determine where the open circuit has occurred.
Another possibility is an internal short in the battery often from debris at the bottom. How old is your battery?
Good luck.
The most likely possibilies are that the cable is broken or the connections are loose. You will need a voltmeter to check voltage across the battery terminals themselves to ensure the posts are making a good connection, and the cable connection at the post and at the first connection of the cables at the neg and pos ends. That should help to determine where the open circuit has occurred.
Another possibility is an internal short in the battery often from debris at the bottom. How old is your battery?
Good luck.
TownCars1
Senior Member
Yea, what Town said.
If the problem is solved temporarily by moving a wire, I am not sure why 3 things that don't include wire are the primary suspects
If the problem is solved temporarily by moving a wire, I am not sure why 3 things that don't include wire are the primary suspects
Town
Senior Member
When you move the cable you put pressure on the mountings on either side of the wire and at the battery end the fastening clamp to the post and then the post. Any of those components could possibly be the problem, so check them all first. Sometimes coincidences lead us in the wrong direction.
TownCars1
Senior Member
I guess he should have checked the tire pressures then since the tires are eventually connected to the wire.
I like to play the odds. If wiggling a wire fixes the problem, then 99.9% of the time, it's the wire. So I would start there.
You don't need to be an electrical engineer from a prestigious university to know that, but I am.
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