Ford - Taurus :: 1997 SHO Is Not Charging?
Dec 27, 2011
I have a '97 Taurus SHO with the DOHC V-8 engine. I have had several SHOs, and parted out one after a camshaft sprocket failure at 203K miles. I bought this SHO a couple of weeks ago at an auction. No guarantees. It did not have the alternator light on when I drove it home. I drove it a little while later, and it ran worse and worse as I drove, so I headed back home.
It literally died in the driveway, and would not crank. I recharged the battery overnight, and it ran perfectly until the battery ran back down. Another battery charge and hooking it up to a machine at Autozone revealed that there was no charge. The charge light never did come on. I had another SHO alternator with a "rebuilt " sticker.
I had the AZ guys test it, and it was good. I installed it. Still no charge, but now the charge light is on. What's going on here? Is there a fusible link in that circuit somewhere that I don't know about?
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I have a 2002 ford taurus with a basic 3.0 v6 . The alternator stopped charging the battery.
New alternator
New battery
New pcm
Still nothing, this has been causing me the biggest headache. Alternator is pcm controlled btw...
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1997 Explorer belonging to a friend who will show up complaining that his battery is dying. Of course, the problem is intermittent.
So far, tried 2 new alternators, (rebuilds), 3 batteries and several diagnostic sessions which have been inconclusive. What I do know is that when the charging system is not working, I still have full battery voltage on the Y/W and LG/R wires on the small wire plug at the alternator. The path from the alternator output through the megafuse to battery + does seem to be intact. Measures full battery voltage and even tried a test by using a battery booster cable to connect the alternator output directly to battery + when the system was not charging.
No change with this test. Visual inspection of the engine to firewall ground strap and the battery - to rad cradle ground wire seem to be OK. Have not had the opportunity to try the jumper cable trick to verify the alternator case to battery - circuit, (darn intermittent!). There did seem to be something intermittent related to a wiggle test in and around the power distribution fuseblock, but once again, this was inconclusive. I also was able to make the charging system fail, (once) by turning on the headlights and blower motor.Any specific failures that may cause this? Not much left to change or check!
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I have a 1997 Ford Expedition, 5.4. My research indicates that fuses 2. 19. 29 are associated with the instrument cluster (IC), could you identify their specific function in relation to the IC? My IC gauge lights are not showing and my alternator is not consistently charging. The blinkers, battery, oil, brake, and ABS indicator lights are showing in start. Regarding the alternator, my research indicates that a failing alt light on the IC may cause the no charging condition? As a note, I have a brand new battery, brand new alternator, brand new 3 pin wiring harness. Also, when the alternator is not charging and I connect the a jumper from the exciter wire directly to the pos battery terminal, the charging starts.
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My Taurus has developed a problem where it refuses to start. When I try to start it, it just cranks over and over and over. I keep trying till the battery starts getting weak. I charge up the battery and then try it again with no luck. A neighbor suggested I get a piece of lumber and gently pound on the gas tank suggesting it might be a stuck fuel pump problem [whatever that means!]. Actually it worked once but after I drove the car all day doing errands the next morning was the same problem. That was three weeks ago.
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Brake pedal was going to the floor. Plenty of fluid in Master Cylinder.
Pulled both front wheels off to find no sign of any leaks anywhere. High and dry all around.
Metal lines look like new the length of the car. No rust, no sign of any leakage. Clean and clear all around (this is a southern car).
Didn't pull the rear tires off, but just by rubber-necking with a flashlight, all dry back there, too.
So I removed the bottom bolt on both front calipers and swung them up out of the way.
Then I started pumping the brakes to see if the pistons moved.
Two rounds of about 6-7 pumps of the pedal, and nothing. No movement.
Third round, shocked to see both pistons came nearly all the way out!!!! In fact, when I touched them, they wobbled. They were hanging by a thread.
So I tried using a C-Clamp and old brake pad combo to try to push the driver's side piston back in.
But the (fairly large) C-Clamp wouldn't open quite enough, and unequal pressure was applied to the face of the piston.
Next thing I knew, the whole thing exploded with the piston falling out, and all the fluid gushing out to the ground.
Should I just pull the passenger side piston off now, too? And let that fluid also gush out? (all this fluid is pretty much original from the factory, so it's old fluid anyway.
Do I just place the piston back into the bore, refill, and bleed? The piston just sits in there loose like that with only the rubber seal holding it in??? Or are these calipers history?
What about the pads and discs? Some of the fluid got on the bottom half of the disc and one of the pads. Just wash it off with brake cleaner and let dry prior to reinstall?
'97 Taurus GL Wagon 3.0L OHV205k miles
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I drive a hot mess of a vehicle. It is a 1997 for taurus that's got more than its fair share of miles on it.My big brother drove this car when he was 16 and I am 22. I am a college kid and I don't do much to my car knowing it will die soon but at the same time I don't have much money to do much. We have a good relationship most of the time and I gladly provide gas and regular oil changes in exchange for transportation.
My car when its warm outside especially idles very rough. So rough that at times it stalls out. It seems to happen most often and to the worst degree when the outside temp is very high and it has been running recently and I'm trying to start it up again. At other times and temperatures it has idled rough but not bad enough to stall. Once I start driving, or moving, its fine. The rough idle makes my car sound like a boat, that's the best way I can explain it.
Why my car does this? How to fix it?
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My daughter has a 1997 Taurus SHO and it's been running pretty well until this morning when a turn of the key failed to start the engine. The battery is fully charged but when she turns the key, we get the click from several places under the hood, including the starter relay. I'm pretty sure it's the starter relay, it's inside of the fuse box, is identified as "starter" on the guide printed inside of the cover and is black plastic about 1.5 inches square. The windows, radio, horn and all of the other accessories work, but no reaction to the key.
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I have a 97 ford taurus that when it is at idle (either in driver or park) it over heats. But if you give it some gas and the rpms get up to over 2300 the temp starts dropping immidiatly down to where it should be. Also the heater in the car stopped working not sure if the problems are connected.
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I recently bought a 1997 Ford Taurus. It ran fine when I got it but the third time I drove it, it started acting up. I was driving down the highway and I noticed it was missing a little bit. Then about 10 minutes later it started not being able to keep up speed. It just seemed to kinda bog down or something when I gave it more gas. The longer I drove the slower it would go until it eventually stopped. I took it to a mechanic and he said it was a cam sensor and cam synchronizer or something like that. When that didn't fix it he said it was the fuel pump and filter, which didn't work either. Took it to another and he said to try changing spark plugs and then coil pack after that didn't work. It runs fine when I first start the car but the more I push the accelerator the faster it starts bogging down.
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The headlights stay on all the time & wear the battery down. I've replaced the DRL module with two new modules & neither fixed the problem. I even examined the headlight switch (some burn up at the switch), but this headlight switch & wiring look new. I even took the headlight switch out & the headlights still stayed on. I made sure that the new modules were grounded to the chasis properly.
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While driving 50MPH one day the car suddenly started making a very noisy, loud sound and would not accelerate when the gas pedal was depressed. I put the car in neutral and pulled off the road. The engine is running great but the gears are now all screwwy. R = neutral, and all other positions "N D 3 2 1" go forward. I put the car into one of the forward gears and it moves, but only about 20 feet before it ceases to move without a LOT of gas, then it is only 1-2 MPH.
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finding out what is wrong with my Taurus. I have searched all over the internet not finding any posts about a similar problem. When driving after I turn past a certain point only to the left not to the right. The car slips into neutral revving, then once Ive straitened out somewhere along the wheel turning radius it re-engages in gear and lurches forward. The car drives fine and shifts smoothly except this.
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'97 Taurus GL Wagon 197k: Some of this stuff has been going on for some time now (several months ... maybe even a year).
1.) Driving Itself:
Car seems to drive itself on my way home from work which is a long, flat road in the 45-55 mph speed range. Once I get into this range, I can take my foot off the gas pedal and the car pretty much maintains speed until I get to an upgrade. I've even noticed times when I'm not pressing the pedal but the car is slightly speeding up to the point where I have to keep tapping the brake to keep from getting too close to the car in front of me.
2.) Stalling/High Idle:
Sometimes when I come to a less than smooth stop at a light - say, a yellow light that quickly turns red and I have to stop quicker than I'd want, the car will stall out. This has only happened a couple of times in the last 6 months, but it had never done this at all up to this point, so it's a new phenomena. Otherwise, the idle is usually at 600 rpm (except recently I've been seeing high idles of 2000 rpm every so often, which is really weird!!). Also, it seems like if I park the car on an incline, the engine will turn over many more times trying to "catch" and start - and the whole start-up sequence just feels weak - like it's not getting enough gas.
3.) Tach Bouncing:
This one's got me the most concerned because I think it's the most serious (and potentially the most costly to fix). I completely transfused the tranny fluid a few months ago as a possible solution, by the way, so the fluid (Dexron Mercon IV) is fresh. At about 1500 rpm on the tach, the tach sometimes starts bouncing up and down on the scale and I can feel a metallic engagement/disengagement cycle. If I get above or below this area on the tach, however, no problem. Also, taking off from a standstill -even though I accelerate very slowly and smoothly because I KNOW the tranny is "soft" and will 'slip and slap' if I don't - I'm recently starting to feel a very very brief grinding-like slippage feeling that does not hinder acceleration much at all, but feels very unsettling. This is a new feeling and it only happens every now and then (so far).
You're gonna say the tranny's on its way out, right?
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Radiator replaced 2 yrs. ago - required major rust cleanout; reservoir replaced shortly thereafter. Recently engine always hot, antifreeze disappearing, reservoir always looks rusty, nothing much coming out underneath, mechanic pressure tested and couldn't find a leak, told to watch for antifreeze in oil, none apparent. Now suddenly car ran hot, antifreeze came out of reservoir, cap replaced, still couldn't find leak. Today said head gasket blown. Repair head gasket, but can't guarantee wouldn't still have radiator problems. Suggested could try Blue Devil head gasket repair but may not work.
Is it worth :
(a) trying the Blue Devil;
(b) repairing the head gasket?
Or will I still have major repair needs with radiator etc.? I really can't afford even a cheap replacement car.
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1997 3.2 2WD 299,000 miles original alternator
3 times in the last month when I start up first thing in the morning dash warning lights are lit up and the electrical system is not charging. AC doesn't work and windows operate very slowly. A simple rev of the engine has resolved the problem. However, the belt is very tight (and I mean very) and there is no indication of it slipping.
This morning, a rev didn't solve the problem. I only work a few miles from home and my mechanic is also very close so I just figured to head that direction. About 1/4 mile later charging kicked in and everything worked just fine.
I hate Intermittent electrical problems Where to start.
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Lately I've had some issues with the indicator(the orange needle telling you what gear you're in). Often when I start my car, it would let me shift gears but the indicator would not move. I've never once had a problem shifting into whichever gear I want(knock on wood). Usually when this happened I would bring the gear selector back to park then try shifting it again. This would fix the issue and it would bring the indicator with it, but I knew I had to do something about it eventually.
Last night when I was on my way home, I started my car and shifted into reverse to back out. It didn't move the indicator, and nothing I could do(no back to park then trying again) would work. I eventually decided I'd just count gears to get home, then I'd have it looked at.
At home I decided to do some research as to find out the issue, and I thought I'd found it. I removed the panel under the steering wheel to look at the thumb-adjustment. Many posts I read said it's likely broken and I may need a new one (Or to fix it with zip-ties or glue). When I found it though it had not been broken. The white housing and the black wheel were both working fine, the wire doesn't seem cut. However when I put the parking brake on so I can shift gears and see what it's doing, the gear selector moves but the wire just acquires slack in it. It's still attached and I can't see a break in it anywhere, however it may be broken inside the jacket. I tried turning the black thumb-adjusting wheel both ways and got no success from that. It moved a little once but that was it.
The indicator needs to be replaced?
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Picked up a 2000 Explorer XLS for my 16 year old son to drive. It looks and runs great but it needed a new alternator. Long story short, 3 shiny new alternators from AutoZone later, it still acts like it needs a new one. If I check voltage at the alternator, while running, it's never over 12.5V. As I turn on accessories, the voltage drops down to 11.7 and doesn't come back up. When I turn it off, the battery slowly creeps back to 12.5V. The 30 amp fuse is good as is the 175amp fusible link. Shouldn't I have 14+ volts out of a brand alternator?
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I have a 2001 ford excursion with the v10 . Yesterday it just died from no power from the charging system. I cleaned all my connection from the battery to the ground straps and my question is in the back of the alternator where the large wire connections with that disconnected. Should I not see current coming out of the bolt on the alternator.
I connected a test light to the body and the test side to the large electrical bolt on the back of the alternator and It would not light ? is the voltage regulator inside the alternator . I also found and a repair a worn fuse link that connected at the starter selonoid and i did make sure the wire from the back of the alternator to the starter selonoid has continuity.
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Have an E150 van with 302 engine. Where is the low pressure charging port on this beast.? The high press. is immediately visible but can not find low....
The van still has the old r-12 and I have 2 cans left...want to charge the system one more time before we get our new 6.0L VAN late this winter!
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2003 explorer 4.0.. I have no charging from the alternator at all. battery dash light on all the time. exciter wire from PCM to alternator, green/white is right around 11.6-11.9v when running. when key on engine off its 0.the other wire for the regulator is battery voltage all the time. voltage drop from large post to + battery terminal is 0.4v. I tried 2 different new alternators so far from napa and same issue. belt is not slipping and tension is good. this vehicle sat for about 6 months and has been on the road for only a week or 2. maybe 100 miles so far until this. I might try a ford alternator, what to do.
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