Sudden Power Cut Off.

NRX · December 13, 2013

Guys. After about a straight 60km drive I suddenly felt that the seat belt was making the clicking sound (The seat belt sound you hear when you switch off the car). I continued to drive and after about 2, 3 minutes I heard the same sound and noticed that the dashboard clock has been reset ( 1:00 ). Then I noticed that when the seat belt thing happens the clock resets itself and sometimes the clock goes all blank and all the indicators on the dashboard including speedo meter, RPM meter and temp gauge all fall back to their default position ( AKA switch off position) .

But the car drives as good as ever and not a single slow down or anything, How come ??? The only thing that works when this happens (Apart from the engine) is the Horn . The wiper doesn't work, AC doesn't work, Signal lights doesn't work, just the horn and the engine. This stays for few seconds and then gets back to normal. This mostly happened with stop and go traffic ( Read : Braking)The frequency of this decreased when I switched off the AC. Then I switched off the engine when the everything on the dashboard was dead, but I could start the car again just fine

I completed my journey as this and on the way back showed the car to an electrician in Yakkala and he said the connectors on the plus terminal on the battery is loose. Then he removed the connectors and cleaned and re-fixed. I couldn't reproduce the problem after that, (but even before the fix, the problem wasn't there for about an hour )

Does any one can explain this ? Oh btw the car is a FB13 (Carburetor )

Edited December 31, 2013 by NRX

VVTi · December 13, 2013

I Think you car is having her period.

maheshw · December 13, 2013

it seems a loose connection for me. check this on tomorow ...

Schiffer · December 13, 2013

This can happen from a Battery loose connector. suprisingly i have heard this before and its on a FB13 as well.

ur lucky its a Carb engine. if not the engine would have stopped as well.

ive read on another forum on a FB14 the same symptoms happend but the engine cut off as well. and that too due to a loose battery terminal connector.

Komisiripala · December 14, 2013

+1 VVTi! You're lucky it's a carb. This happened to me in a ti carina on the ibbagamuwa forested road at around 9:30pm. No efi no gear changes. Hurrah. Had to rally the locals around, push it to a garage and hop on a bus home. Thank god rural Sri Lankans are nice chaps.

Get your terminals double checked by a good car electrician. There's one near bellanwila if that's close to you

Crosswind · December 14, 2013

You mentioned that this happens when you brake. Maybe the battery is moving when you brake and that causes a terminal or a cable to come loose.
WHen you switch off the A/C the battery simply takes longer to discharge. That's all.

NRX · December 14, 2013

Guys, Just noticed there is a direct thick wire going to the starter motor/solenoid from the battery ( Is this a maka bass work ? ), that explains how I could start the car even when the problem was there, but even for a carburetor there has to be a spark to fire the engine right, the coil pack should get 12v line from the battery right ? or it gets from the alternator ??

maheshw · December 14, 2013

am trying to PM u .seems ur in box full.

Rumesh88 · December 14, 2013

Schiffer is right. I too have noticed the same thing on FB13s and 14s. It is worth having a good look at the connectors (they are usually of white color) under the dashboard because if you see a connector which is a bit discolored due to heat - either the whole connector or a part of it - then that is the culprit. Give it a try.

Edit: There is another way to check. Start your car on a cold (these days it is a bit cold in the morning) morning and switch on all the electrical loads for about one minute. Then just feel the connectors to see if any one them is warm.

Edited December 14, 2013 by Rumesh88