Wagon won't start!

Well, I had the joy of having her on the road for three or four days. After I got her back from the shop (I've only owned it for less than a month) the battery died. Since it has been so cold here, and I had no idea how old the battery was, I went ahead and bought a new one and it fired right up. Ran for a few days, then came out one morning and the battery was dead again. Hmmm. Let it sit, and the next day it started right up. I went to Autozone to have the alternator tested, but they said without a tachometer they couldn't test the alternator unless I took it out, then they could test it on the bench.

So I came out yesterday, and it wouldn't start again. All gauges and lights work, so I thought that either my alternator is bad, or I have something draining the battery overnight. I couldn't even get it to jump start.

As far as possible phantom loads, it occurred to me that I have an aftermarket alarm/immobilizer that might be to blame. I found the brain, but having no idea what was what, I didn't cut any wires. I have an appointment Monday AM to have it uninstalled.

So, my current plan is to remove the alternator tonight for a bench test (luckily, it is a balmy 13 degrees outside), and also have the battery charged. That way I can at least get to the shop to have the alarm removed, and if it turns out to be the alternator I can replace that and hopefully be up and running. Wish me luck!

All this would be much easier, but I just moved here and most of my tools are in storage (I don't even have a multimeter) and I no longer have a garage.

I had a similar problem with my 91 sedan. It ended up being the ABS that was draining the battery. It wouldn't do it overnight, though. It would have to sit for a couple of days.

How did you figure out it was the ABS? And what did you do to fix the problem?

I guess I'll pick up a multimeter and try to figure out where the drain is coming from, if it turns out not to be the alternator.

I disconnected the battery, and when I reconnected it, I could hear the ABS Module? click on. I just unplugged it. Never had a problem with the battery after that. I'm pretty sure that it didn't work anyways.

We had the same problem on an AstroVan with an aftermaket alarm.

Took it out and all problems solved!

I'm hoping that's it! I'll keep you guys posted!

John

Well, I just got back from Autozone. The alternator tested good, and the battery already had a full charge. Soooooo...

I think one of a couple things: maybe I have triggered the immobilizer on the aftermarket alarm, or the starter isn't working.

I have no idea how to bypass the immobilizer, but I guess I can check out the starter. I'll keep at it!

John

Look under the dash, there should be a couple of fuses in the wiring harness for the alarm. Pull one fuse out at a time and try it. Doing this actually completely disables the alarm. I had this problem with my alarm in my suburban. The other option you have is on the harness from the column, there should be a tapped in harness from the alarm, this is the started interupt harness. Remove the aftermarket harness and reconnect the wires. I believe it was a 10 or 12 guage purple wire was the starter wire but don't quote me on that...

I think I'm going to go with the starter interrupt. My manual shows a purple or yellow wire coming from the column and going to the starter, and I see about a 10 gauge yellow wire coming from the column that looks like it has been cut and diverted to a relay. There is a wire going out of the relay that leads to what looks like the other half of the yellow wire and out through the fire wall.

I figure I'll reinstall the alternator, hook that yellow wire back up, reinstall the battery, and see what happens. I really hope it's not the starter, I would hate to have to crawl under there and swap it out in this weather.

I decided to take advantage of my time under the hood and I removed the mechanical fan. I picked up an electrical primary fan a couple of weeks ago, I'll go ahead and swap that in while I'm at it.

Just a quick thought, have you checked the starter? maybe the relay is bad or the starter is shot?

Just sayin!

STARTER!!!! What, are you trying to jinx me! Man, the last thing I want to do is lay in the snow and pull a starter (I am currently without a garage).

Thankfully, it turned out to be the security system. I bypassed the immobilizer and it fired right up. I now have a spaghetti pile of wires sitting in the driver's floorboard. I had to try to figure out the wiring from the brain of the security system so I could bypass it. All I had to do was get the wire going to the starter from the steering column and reconnect it directly to the starter circuit. Sha-zaam!

I have an appointment at 8:00 am to have the security system professionally removed. After that, I think we are getting pretty close to having a daily driver!

Guys, thanks for all the help. It's really nice to be able to post here and get feedback.

Thanks.

John

I kinda thought the alarm was the culprit. Once you've had one take a crap on ya, you never forget the symptoms... Mine did it to me when me and a date were leaving the restaurant in the rain and the doors wouldn't unlock either! She was pissed.

My wagon has an old alarm on it as well. Need to get it removed soon as it is useless to me and I don't like all the extra mess in the dash.

I had an appointment yesterday morning to have it removed, but the guy never showed. I called his competition and I have an appointment with him tomorrow morning. I'll feel a lot better when it's gone.

Then, on to my next project....