Ford Festiva - Battery Problems

[Phades]

I have a 1988 Ford Festiva. Had this thing for a long long time. Got it for $400 with only 40k miles. It now has 106k miles.

I haven't had any problems with the car and I do all the maintenance on it myself.

Here's the problem. I left the lights on killed the battery. Tried to jump the car and it wouldn't stay on for more than a few mins. I thought it was the battery, so I replaced the battery since getting a jump from someone else would get it to turn on....otherwise I would have no power.

I got a new battery and installed it. Was talking on my cell phone at the same time and accidently connected the terminals backwards. Connect the positive to the neg and neg to positive on the battery. As soon as I did that, a wire near the battery in a box with 3 wires looping over (the middle wire which is the one that i'm reffering to had a label saying "Main") LIT UP like a 100watt light bulb. I immediately disconnected the terminals realizing what I had just done.

That wire in the middle got so hot that it burnt out. The box with that wire and the other 2 wires can be traced down to a few different sections under the hood--mainly the positive terminal that connects to the battery and every place that connects to.

Anyhow, after that happened I notice the belt on the Alternator was broken. This was the original problem that caused the dead battery. My alternator was not running and recharging the batter--thus dead battery. Anywho, I replaced the wire in the box that got burned out as well as the alternator belt. I figured this would fix everything. I was wrong. The new battery after that only lasted about a week. I replaced the battery again and figured I might have fried the alternator somehow. A neighboor junked his festiva a few years back and I salvaged a lot of parts from it, including the alternator. I replaced the alternator with this one.

I went to Pep Boys and had them test the new battery and alternator. All tests were good. However, this next battery only lasted 3 weeks. It slowly looses a charge and while driving all the lights go dim in the car, the radio loses power, the headlights go real dim... It seems as there isn't sufficient power to run these things and then the battery goes dead and not enough power to start the car.

The car drains more power than it puts back into the battery.

I noticed one weird thing. Everytime the car is on, If i rev the engine or drive for awhile, then get out of the car and touch the frame while standing outside the car I get a BIG SHOCK.. EVERYTIME I do it.

Seems as the frame of the car is getting charged somehow... Not sure if that is a side affect of the problem or related in anyway at all to the problem. On a good note, now I have a shocking personality and get charged while in the car and give most people within the few minutes of leaving my car a nice good shock on contact =D

Any help in trying to find out what's causing the problem would be much appreciated. New battery just installed and I guess I have about a week or 2 before this one is dead also...

Sidenotes:
Radio is not stock but has been installed for about 4 years. I noticed the radio has a lot of feedback and shorts out probably due to not being properly grounded. I also noticed a wire to the power of the radio was torn recently (probably happened one day while cleaning the car and got the vacuum snagged on it, I have since disconnected the radio entirely but still have the battery problem, so this is probably not the problem).

Thx in advance,
Dan

[Fritz The Cat]

Try starting the car and disconnecting the ground cable from the battery. Does the engine die? If it still runs, rev it up a bit, see if it dies. Post back with the results.

[HiFlow5 0]

Originally posted by Fritz The Cat
Try starting the car and disconnecting the ground cable from the battery. Does the engine die? If it still runs, rev it up a bit, see if it dies. Post back with the results.

That will only tell you if the alt is not charging, which we already know to be the case. Which leads me to believe that the voltage regulator is shot. I bet your fried it when you crossed the terminals on the battery.

[Fritz The Cat]

Originally posted by Phades




I went to Pep Boys and had them test the new battery and alternator. All tests were good.

Assuming Pep Boys are as good as their reputation, I don't see them not finding a fried volt reg. Therefore, I feel starting with the basics is in order.

[HiFlow5 0]

Originally posted by Fritz The Cat
Assuming Pep Boys are as good as their reputation, I don't see them not finding a fried volt reg. Therefore, I feel starting with the basics is in order.

Good point, they can be morons!

But not all voltage regulators are mounted on the alternator. Therefor they would not find a fried regulator. In some vehicles the regulator is mounted on the firewall or sidewall. I believe that's where the problem lye.

[HillbilySailor]

Originally posted by Phades
The car drains more power than it puts back into the battery.

I noticed one weird thing. Everytime the car is on, If i rev the engine or drive for awhile, then get out of the car and touch the frame while standing outside the car I get a BIG SHOCK.. EVERYTIME I do it.

Seems as the frame of the car is getting charged somehow...

Your electrical system is shorted to the frame or body of the car (ie: nice shock when you touch the car). Here's the quickest way to find your problem. Connect a light or an amp meter in SERIES between the battery terminal and the battery cable. If there's a current draw, the light will be lit, or the amp meter will show current draw. Start pulling fuses one at a time, and check the light or amp meter each time. If you pull a fuse and the light f=goes out or the amp meter reads zero, you've found the probelm circuit. Remember to pull the fuse for the radio/clock circuit before you start this procedure, as the radio/clock circuit is constantly drawing current to keep the time updated and to provide power for the memory circuit in your radio. IF you don't pull that paticular fuse first, the light or amp meter will always show a draw on your battery, making it harder to find your probelm. Hope this helps!