That's it, I've had enough.
 

Driving the SLE for the last week due to the paint work on the Zilla hood, the car has been acting fine. I've had a couple problems with battery cable corrosion underneath the boots and slightly up the cable inside the insulation. It would occasionally just DIE completely on me. Cleaned it up real good with the intent of replacing the cables completely at a later date.

Got in the car to go get some sealer for the hood vents, and it DIED again 2 blocks from the house.

Ran back home, grabbed some small vice-grips, loosened and tightened, started the car, and went on my merry way.......


.......right to the auto parts store where I got my sealer AND 3 brand new battery cables. 2 positive, one negative. After I get the garage un-paint-boothed, I'm tackling the 95. This will never happen again. It's a PITA to re-program the stupid head unit.

Total damage? Less than $30.

what is your method of garage paint boothing? currently using an explosion proof fan which sucks outside air through filters in other end of the garage. very dependant upon the outside air temperature.

still working on regulating airflow properly. last car got some runs in one door which will eventually get redone.

i hear you willwren,
the last two days my car has been dead in the morn.. im going to figure it out tonight if its
the batt or alt.. either way battery has to be disconnected and it is a royal pain to
reprogram our headunits..

died
 

Haven't we all had that dreaded car died problem due to some stupid electrical connection!
IMO too much electronics = the same as too many cooks, spoil the broth.

Look in detailing and appearance. It's all there. ;)

Re: died
 

my grand cherokee has an ASD [auto shut down] circuit. i was driving home one night and the truck just shut off. i thought it was the fuel pump or as rare as it would have been the distributor let go.

got the jalopy home and i could hear the fuel pump running. i checked all the fuses and one was bad. replaced it and the truck started. when to move it and it died. same fuse was blown. did a little more poking around and found my down stream 02 sensor laying on the driveshaft. it would short, blow the fuse and kill power to the asd relay.

:roll:

can bad corroded cables kill you battery or just stop the car from starting untill corrosion is removed.? but yeah its a real pita i know what you mean...replaced mine. ;)

Shouldn't kill the battery. My original plan after I pulled the Zilla's motor was to put those cables in the 95, and buy new cables for the Zilla, but that's not happening now. Both cars will have new cables though, by spring. The SLE by tonight or later in the weekend at the latest. It's gotta be reliable before I yank the other motor.

Well, for any 94-95 to be truly reliable, you gotta have a good PCM sitting in the trunk. The one in the trunk intimidates the one that's hooked up into working properly. ;)

trunk
 

LOL

That may be true for you NA's, but I've not heard of troublesome PCM's on the SC'd so far, which doesn't make much sense. It's the same box, just a different mem-cal.

I've never had a pcm related issue (I have a spare, but it's for the 93, and the 95 might be tricked by it sitting there on the shelf).

I believe Frank had a bad PCM on his '95 SSEi, we switched it out at NEBF.

A word of advice:

Never buy replacement battery cables at Autozone. The charge pigtail from the positive terminal is only 10/12 gauge. The charge wire for those equipped with the 140-amp alternator is 6 gauge. I'm having to get kinda creative here.

Autozone shouldn't even have those on the shelf. Someone is going to have a fire.

Get a four guage wire. You'll never have any dimming again.

I don't have dimming as it is. The Zilla, however, is already 4-gauge feeding off the top terminal of the battery. Has been for a couple years due to the 160-amp alternator and greater draw.

The 95 isn't so bad on draw, and only has a 140 amp alternator. I'll post up pics when I'm done today, but I can tell you I'm not happy with the Autozone cables at all. They're very cheap. To give you an idea, they were about 10 bucks apiece. But even by going with their listings for direct replacement, there are some problems like mentioned above, as well as the fact that they identify the next LONGER cable. This makes you re-route a bit to maintain good service loops without being excessive.

My alternator-battery loop will be standalone and slightly customized using the OEM cable for that portion. It has no corrosion.

I'm being slowed down by a couple other jobs as well. I'm re-sealing the rear door seals (again) and also the right rear taillight. Taking my time in the warm dry garage on those two jobs, as well as the cables, but then I have to switch the cars around again for a couple more days.

I took a good gallon and a half out of the rear seat and trunk yesterday. My re-work lasted a little over a year, this time will be absolutely a permanent fix for that. Funny, I've never had this problem on the SSEi.

Got the battery cables replaced on the SLE, charges like a CHAMP. Not totally happy with the setup, but it will work, and it's safe. I'll post pics later. Autozone sucks.

Got the rear door seals stripped, cleaned, and re-sealed.

Got the right rear taillight dried out, sealed, and drain holes strategically placed (these are the Zilla's original's, re-tinted and cleared).

Got the fog light bulbs replaced, housings dried out, and need to re-aim them tomorrow night. Frostbite got me and I had to knock off early. I'll replace the wiper blades, lube the antenna, and lube the door seals and locks so they won't freeze tomorrow also. She'll be fully ready for winter.

As did I @ ONBF ;)