Annihilate

iTrader: (1)

Hey guys,

Had the strangest thing happen to me today, for the record it is hot as hell, mid 90s and sunny here in Michigan.

I decided to drive the old Z in today and bare the heat.

Well right before im about to get onto the highway, the car just dies! Radio and everything, with no indication otherwise. Right before this I was getting a satisfactory 13v, at least according to the instrument cluster.

Not my first rodeo, so I try restart the car... Nothing!

I manage to coast into a parking lot, push my car the rest of the way... I noticed my foot wells were still illuminated but I was not getting anything from the car or instrument panel indicating I had juice.

As im getting things together, and trying to get some help, I go back into the car, and its showing I have voltage! She started right up!

Id say id been waiting around for about 10-15mins, and I had checked a few times.

All connections at battery and alternator were tight. I simply thought my alternator went...

Well ive just disconnected the battery. Gonna go get it tested, though it is only a year old. This has never happened before.

Any ideas as to what else may have caused this?

OrangeBird

iTrader: (1)

Absolutely a bad connection, that went open when it got hot.

And no, I don't believe it's either your alternator or battery.......

Annihilate

iTrader: (1)

Hmm, any idea as to where I might look first? I replaced the fusible links around the starter and starter last year.

OrangeBird

iTrader: (1)

Sadly the bad connection could be anywhere between the big terminal on the starter to the ignition switch. Since you said you still had power to the interior lights it's not any connection involving the battery's wires themselves, I would start by checking for corrosion at the starter's big terminal (Physically take apart the connection, clean the terminals and reassemble) and then check your fusible link that feeds the ignition switch by wiggling it a bit with the key on to see if you can make the power drop out. If it's not found there, check any and all connections that bring power to the ignition switch, including the infamous "C100" connector. When looking for a bad connection the "wiggle test" can be a very useful method, but to take apart and look at the connectors themselves is sometimes the only way. Problems like this can be a bit of a PIA to find, since right now all is functioning normally. If, for instance, it had died and never came back on, you could easily follow the circuit to where the open connection is, but, in your case it's gonna take some digging.....

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Fusible links is the 1st thing I'd look at. "Just replaced" is an even bigger pointer toward them: all it would take is one connection that either didn't get done exactly right, or that has come loose somehow.

90s isn't that hot. Lots of these cars, and others, do just fine in places that are MUCH hotter than that. I doubt that had anything to do with causing this. It's expected to be 110° in Phoenix today for example.

Annihilate

iTrader: (1)

So, I remembered a "change" I had made prior to this incident.

I actually tried to drive the car that night to go for a drink, and it died on me again, however the headlights stayed on, and I was able to restart the car almost instantly.

I remembered that I had hooked up two "new" relays for the MAF and Burnoff, I was doing some trouble shooting, and I had bought some NOS ones, however they couldn't be mounted due to their channels being broken off. So I had plugged in the "new" ones that I still had mounted from before. I decided to check my codes, and I had a code 33.

Well, I switched back to the NOS ones and I haven't had a stall or loss of power yet, code 33 is gone, still have tape over the SES light tho, as I have a code 36 that just wont go away.

I am still going to be getting under the car and shaking things around for good measure.

Thanks for the help everyone.