464/1000 has been a bit sketchy lately. Initially, I was suspecting fuel delivery issues – dying fuel pump, blocked fuel filter, failing coolant temp sensor (CLT). I replaced the fuel filter. This is easy maintenance. Then I replaced the CLT, this was easy as well. Still, the symptoms returned.
Once the car got up to operating temperature, it would begin to stumble intermittently, particularly during my commute home in the evening. I’d be driving along, 60mph in 5th gear, when I’d let off the gas to slow for congestion, the engine would start acting up. In short order, a minor inconvenience would turn into an unwillingness to stay running; particularly sketchy when you’re packed into the left lane of a major artery during rush hour commute. It would die a few times. I’d have to re-start while still moving, left foot on the clutch, right toes on the brakes, right heel on the throttle to maintain a shitty idle.
In speaking with one of my mentors about it, he suggested it might be related to the charging system. Food for thought, so this past Friday, as soon as I got home from work (the car stalled three times in the fast lane that day), I grabbed my DVOM (digital volt/ohm meter, or multi-meter – $20 at Sears, you should have one) and did some very simple tests while still wearing my tie from work.
At idle, the battery was reading 12.24VDC.
At 1500rpm, no load, the battery was reading 13.71VDC.
At 2000rpm, “hotel load” (high beams, radio, fan), the battery was reading 13.50VDC and dropping.
Clearcut case of it being time to do some basic charging system maintenance. I went to remove the battery terminals Saturday morning and they weren’t even tight! They looked like ass, so I made a quick run to Autozone in the Amigo to get new ones. Turns out the style used on the positive terminal on the Galants/DSMs is called marine type. They have a stud and wing nut on them to connect additional leads.
First thing I did was throw that old terminal in the trash. Then I cleaned the battery posts.
Then I sanded the first ground location to bare metal and cleaned the contacts of corrosion. As you can see, the copper wires on this strap aren’t the best, so I cut the section from tab to battery post out and replaced it with a new one.
With the battery ready to go, I replaced a puny factory ground wire between the firewall and intake manifold with a beefy piece of 10AWG wire left over from when Uberingram and I sold ground wire kits on 2GNT back in, um, 2004 or something like that. Uber had quite the laugh when he saw I’d finally installed part of one myself.
The new battery ground strap was installed with a little dielectric grease to prevent corrosion.
The new terminals were greased and installed on the cleaned posts. (The positive terminal wasn’t totally down in this picture, but is now.)
When I fired up the engine, the alternator belt squeaked, so I shut it right down and re-tightened the belt. Upon re-fire, she started right up without any squealing whatsoever. I grabbed the DVOM and checked the battery terminals. Picked up more than 2VDC at idle. My work here was done for the day.
The jury is still out on the repair, as I’ve not spent a significant amount of time in the car since, but that’s a serious voltage gain signifying a healthy charging system. I’m cautiously optimistic about this.
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