[biglg]

DAM DAM DAM. 1989 Mustang GT Convertible

Had my car 2 months. THe right fog never has worked, the left fog works. I checked the connectors with a test lamp, nothing. I checked wires, couldnt find anything. No power anywhere I looked on the non working fog light wiring. So I hard wired the non working fog into the working fog. Please read below.

Ok, So i complete the fog/parking light wiring so the fogs run independend or when the parking lamps are on. I also wired my non working right fog directly off the working left fog lamp. I am dont with the project, start the car. Everything works fine. I pull it out of the garage. It sits for 14 hours. NOW WHAT?

I go out last night to pull it into the garage for some more work. THe SOB wont start. It doesnt even turn over. It is 100% dead. It is parked on a hill. I roll start it in reverse, it starts! I drive it and let it run. I shut it off. Guess what. IT STILL DOESNT START. ANY ideas? What the hell now. Would any of the wiring I completed have anything to do with this? I dont know how or why it would? HELP ME PLEASE GUYS.

[GTRaptor]

I think you should retrace the wiring you did, most possible a bad ground or a short somewhere.

[89 GTGHOST]

maybe a battery draw...could be you wired something to stay on all the time..

[biglg]

Ok,
All I did was took the left working fog pos & neg and spliced into them and ran a pos and neg to the other fog. That wouldnt be an issue would it? The lights arent unless I have the switch on! THey dont stay on!

Secondly, I just went out and I couldnt get the car to roll start this time. I jump started it. It would start everytime. After letting it run for a few minutes, or sometimes seconds. It will just die on its own!

I tried this 5 times. Each time allowing it to charge longer on the jumper car battery. I would start the dead car, let it run and it will die anywhere from 1-4 minutes after disconnecting the jumper cables. Try to start it on its own, and nothing. Wont do a dam thing. I think once I got the click click click sound. I am not very knowledgeable on these issues. Is this a battery, starter, alternator issue? HELP me please. Thanks.

[whitepony]

open up your battery and see if its low on water?? mine would kinda do that, meaning some days i could tell there was a problem and it just wouldnt start. and other times i could go weeks without having to jump it. then it did what your saying at the end. i would get it jumped, it would barely run. and as soon as i turned it off it was dead. i got a optima yellow top and havent had any issues since

[GhostDog 5.0]

You should fix your initial problem. Hard wiring things that use a lot of juice like lights to something it should be wired to is just asking for trouble.

[8950lx]

Is your alt. charging? you can check the wires running to the alt like you did the wires for the fog lamps. Of course, it would have to be running, I guess. Or check the water in the battery, if you have a maintenance type battery, like whitepony said. If nothing works, try to undo the wiring thing you did for the lamps and see if it'll run.

[biglg]

OK,
Here is where I am now.

I took the battery to have it tested. The battery charged and tested fine!

I took the alternator off. Took it to Advance to have them test it. The amperage was good. But in a KEY NOTE it said that light on wiring should be off! Well it was lit up red??? So they told me the alternator was bad??

I took the alternator to auto zone and they checked it and said it passed all tests? THey didnt have the little light wiring on their testor, a completely different tester. So is the alternator bad, or is it ok?

SO, I come home and do a light test on the neg post and neg cable. THe light comes on. I went through every fuse removing them one at a time. The light testor came on with every fuse removed one at a time?

Now what the hell is going on?

I have my multimeter out. I left the pos battery cable hooked up. I undid the negative. I put the black multimeter wire in the COM CAT II hole, I put the red wired in the 10ADC hole. I turned the knob on the meter to 10A (in red). I touched the wires to the neg cable and the neg battery post. I cant get a read. What am I doing wrong here? Any more thoughts? Thanks.

By the way, I unhooked the pos. & negative wires on both fogs. I also tried to start the car after the battery was charged. It started right up. But I didnt leave it running. I unhooked the battery.

[biglg]

One more thing. How much water should be in the battery? If I pull the caps off, should it be at the very top? If they are low, can I just fill them up completely with tap water?

[dollarbill]

I think you are really suposed to use distilled water but I use tap water too. Is the regulator apart of the alternator? Maybe you can hook it back up and drive it to Advance and have them hook the machine to it while its running to check it out. BTW they do that for free. Good luck with those gremlins...

[biglg]

I wanted to do an alternator upgrade, and one auto store said my alternator was the issue anyways. So I guess now is a time to do it. So here are my questions.

I have an 89 Mustang Gt Convertible. The alternator is said to be shot, at least one auto store said it has something shorted inside of it. I would like to put in an upgraded larger alternator. I plan to later have a stereo, electric fan, etc.

I know some people are using 94-95 mustang alternators. Can someone please tell me if I purchase one what exactly I will need and instructions on how to do the install?

Are there other alternators from other cars that will also work? I have seen on eBay where there is a seller than sells a direct bolt on no modification and they label it as small housing/casing.

Any recommendations on the best replacement alternator with the smallest amount of modification would be great. Let me know the vehicle make and years. If I have to do modifications please let me know all and any instructions and parts needed. Thanks as always.

[89GTVert]

You should really upgrade to the 3G series alternator. I just did mine barely a month ago because my alternator and wiring smoked out on me. The old system uses wiring that is too small to handle high current loads (on mine it was a single 10 ga. wire), especially when its old. you will have to run new wiring from your battery to the alternator and if you do it yourself the job will take a few hours. plus you can get a higher amperage alt.
The problem that you are having is strange but perhaps the extra current load from the fogs was the "final straw" for the old alt.

[91droptop5.0]

i would definatly get a new alt. good luck.

[biglg]

Thanks guys. I picked up a 3G alternator off a newer Mustang for $50. I have read contradicting information on this next topic. Do I use my stock 2g alternator pulley, or leave the pulley that is on the 3g alternator I just purchased used? I am sure i will have more questions, but that is it for now.

Oh no, not really. I am going to use 4gauge and rewire. Can anyone give me a part number for this fusable link that I need? Like from autozone, advance auto parts, radio shack, lowes? I would like to make sure I get the correct fuse for this. Or just tell me what sytle fuse and holder, and exactly where I want to put the fusable link. Thanks.


Any other links out there or HOW TO's on the 3G fox upgrade? I would like to read all I can find. Please post all links, articles, etc. Thanks.

[systronic]

what happens in the alternator is odd, it happened to me as well. there is a charging diode in there, and it switches between open and closed. it fails if the alternators recieves a power jolt or something similar. if it fails in the OPEN position, then while your car is OFF, the power from your battery will BACKFEED into your alternator.

to check and see if this is the problem, put your alternator back in, charge your battery, run the car for a while, shut it off, and UNPLUG THE ALTERNATOR. in the morning, hook the ALT back up and try and start it. if it turns over, your ALT is bummed.