Bunny hops and power failure!!

[helena]

Hi Guys just want an opinion from someone.
Last week my indicaters stopped flashing so after checking the fuses which were ok i changed the flasher unit and all was well. Next day went out and my car started bunny hopping, i had to stop to give way and lost all power. Started car again and same thing happened after 100 yards then no ignition at all. Wiggled the wires and fuses, started up then died 100 yards down the road. At this point in the pouring rain and with my 2 year old in the car i gave up and called for recovery. Car is presently in my friends garage waiting to be fixed. Any suggestions as to whats wrong ? a loose connection or badly connected fuse? Is it worth thinking about replacing the wiring loom? My car seems to have on going problems with batteries, indicators and charging!

[Cam]

Check ALL the electrical connections from the battery to the fusebox and starter solenoid. Check the fusebox too. It could be corrosion at some of the connections causing intermittant failure.

[Packedup]

And check the regulator connections and innards too - Thinking of a recent thread where that turned out to be the culprit.

[Cam]

Careful when checking the innards of the regulator though as you can end up really mucking it up and having no charging/overcharging if you start fiddling with screws/bending contacts!

[Packedup]

More just a visual check for corrosion and rot I'd say! Although I seem to have had success messing around with the one I posted about ages ago, but it's taken a lot of trial and error and fiddling... Wish I could be bothered to fit an alternator and have done really.

[Willie]

It is always worth cleaning the fuses and their holding clips as the minor is prone to experience bad connections in that area BUT the ignition does not pass through any of the fuses so it suggests that there is a bad connection between the battery terminal and the starter solonoid where there is a thickish brown lead connected to it (this feeds the WHOLE car) so, if the car goes dead again and you find that the INTERIOR LIGHT and the HORN are also dead then check along that brown lead which goes from the solonoid to terminal 'A' on the regulator unit and is teed off from there to feed the fuse with the BROWN wire on it. If this is reading 12volts ok then check that the terminal next to 'A' which is 'A1' (with brown/blue wires on it) is also 'live'.

If they check out ok then let us know and we can take it further. The simplest answer if the whole car goes dead could be that your actual battery connections are dodgy or that you are using the 'cap' type battery connections instead of the 'clamp' type. The 'cap' type can go open circuit leaving you with no voltage. This condition would be simple to prove by waggling the battery connections when the fault appears, you may also notice that the connections are HOT due to arcing.

[helena]

Thanks guys its always reassuring to know theres good advice ready when you need it most! x Will let you know how i get on.

[rayofleamington]

bunny hopping then conking out....

are you sure the petrol pump is ok??
A full carburettor will get you about 200 yards ( a lot less if the choke is on) so if your petrol pump stops intermittently this could give the same symptoms.

Obviously the first things to check are anything you may have disturbed with any previous work, but if you don't hear a regular tick from the petrol pump when the engine is running then it is always worth to check!