Possible electrical problems in Dallas

[I Speed]

Best Battery

Thanks for asking. No powerful experience, and admittedly more of a "hunch". Hardly scientific. What I do know is that fundamentally the Optima's are different than the conventional lead-acid battery type (which includes the maintenance free, and gel-cell batteries) and they DO have different characteristics.

Perhaps the most "blatant" difference is when we try to program the cars after we have done a pulley upgrade. I happen to really like the completeness of the Ford Racing pulley upgrade kit and we have done quite a few of them this year. The programmer that you get with the Ford Racing kit cautions you never to start loading in a new program onto a partially charged battery. Makes sense. The odd part is that the programmer will check battery voltage and will frequently refuse to load the program into the GT because it thinks the battery is insufficiently charged and might die during the load process. Mind you, these cars typically crank, start, and run fine - you'd never think you had a low-voltage battery. When we test these batteries with a Fluke (known, high quality VOM), we will see static voltages of 11-11.5V. In a "conventional" battery, an 11-11.5V voltage reading would rightfully equate to a low battery. Not so with the Optima as it seems "happy" to live at these lower voltages.

So (and here's the leap), I think the GT's gauge control module is fooled the same way that Ford Racing programmer is fooled. They both have been programmed for conventional battery "traits". When the GT's on-board gauge control module doesn't witness 12v at key-on, it sometime fails to initialize one or more of the gauges correctly. I am much more comfortable to recommend a conventiaonal battery as I trust that the behavior is known.

Again, I'm really glad you asked because my hypothesis has some merit (I think) but is far, far from being proven. I changed the oil on my car this weekend and despite being on a Tender full-time, the battery is noticeably weaker when cranking during the priming procedure. It is time for a new battery and I will likely go to Sears and pay for the current "Sears Best", rather than to go for another Optima.

If you pick out another battery I would be interested in knowing what you end up with... thanks

 

[Mullet]

Mullet
Do you have the Ford part number for the snaps that hold the finder splash skirt in? My shop manual shows them to be bolts! Or did you go a different route to get to the bulb?

Can't remember the part number but they are definitely plastic push thingies.

Torrie might know the part number

 

[nota4re]

Do you have the Ford part number for the snaps that hold the finder splash skirt in? My shop manual shows them to be bolts! Or did you go a different route to get to the bulb?

PM me your snail mail address and how many you need. I have a lot of brand new extra ones here.

 

[fjpikul]

Kendall, you can get at the turn signal bulb in the headlight withoout pulling the fender liner. You do have to take off the front splitter, and can't really be done unless you have the car on a lift. I've only done the driver's side and you do need to loosen the washer tank.

 

[MoTeC Magic]

Hello I Speed,

I'm a MoTeC dealer in Dallas and have done quite a bit on the GTs... A few of the guys I do and have done work for are on here and perhaps they'll chime in to be a further referral of my work and attention to detail. FUBAR is my biggest GT customer... most of his threads will show the craftsmanship.

I build full electrical systems for professional race cars and am fairly good at trouble shooting... Turn signals aren't exactly what get me going but If I can be of assistance, I'm on the North East side of Dallas.

Cheers

 

[nota4re]

Kendall, you can get at the turn signal bulb in the headlight withoout pulling the fender liner. You do have to take off the front splitter, and can't really be done unless you have the car on a lift. I've only done the driver's side and you do need to loosen the washer tank.

Very cool. A much easier way than the fender. Let's hope this method would also work for the pass side as it is a little more congested. But, very worth the try!

 

[Neilda]

Seen this before too. I think it was HHGT's car where his interim remedy was to bang on the offending headlight assembly (housing the turn signal bulb) and it would magically start working again. We removed the fender line (typical pain in the butt) and got to the offending bulb. The contacts were just very, very dry causing the occasional problem. The solution was an easy one - we simply lubed up the contacts with some Permatex Dielectric grease and the problem was solved.

This is EXACTLY a problem I had with mine, I thought it was bulb, turned out to be the contacts in the assembly.

 

[Apollo]

Stick with left turns.

Chip

Three lefts make a right... except in politics where it makes a mess. :biggrin

 

[AJK]

Three lefts make a right... except in politics where it makes a mess. :biggrin

That's a good one.