Strangeness

[1990LTD]

I just finished washing the car, during the wash I thought I noticed the marker lights go on and off, but only out of the corner of my eye so I thought maybe it was light reflecting on them or something.


Nope. Happened again.

I don't know if this is normal for these cars but this is what mine has done previously; when I tried starting it and the solenoid on the fender was bad, the lights would flick like that and i would hear a clicking sound from under my dash in unison with the lights flickering.

My car has a remote starter (I do not believe it to be factory) and the starter unit has lock/trunk popper buttons while I do not have either of those features. For reasons unbeknownst to me when I press those buttons, the lights flick in that manner, but I tried the buttons and the lights flicker/click sound is slower than when the car does it by itself.


I thought maybe the car was telling me about a bad fender solenoid because that is what it has done before when I would try to start w the bad solenoid - but I hadn't tried to start it, remote or otherwise. The keys were sitting on the dash.

When I DID try to start it, perfect. Killed it twice to make sure and it fired off both times. Then the car did it again. No flickering since the lights were on but it clicked at me from under the dash/steering column again. Did it while parked in idle and again a few times on my drive home. I thought the drive might evaporate any water but i guess not.


It started happening while I was washing it so that is the obvious explanation to me. What say you lot? Let it sit and dry and hope for the best?

[79lincolnlover]

Ghost in the machine?

[1990LTD]

Good album. I will see how the car behaves after a few hours of sitting and dryin'.

[1990LTD]

No more strangeness? I have a little fucking gremlin living in there somewhere. I will name him Fred.

[4door]

start by removing the + power to remote starter and observe (i had one that did strange things sometimes)

[sly]

check the crimps for the remote module. loose wires can do this too.

[Piece-it pete]

... I will name him Fred.

Pete

[1990LTD]

start by removing the + power to remote starter and observe (i had one that did strange things sometimes)

That's the thing; I don't know where any of the remote starter gizmo lives other than the box above my rearview mirror.



Hasn't given me any problems at all today. No weirdness to speak of other than the guy I saw driving the Monza on the way home from my parts mission.

[PICKUP6772]

Dumb question time. Did you have the key fob in your pocket, by chance?? I had mine start for some strange reason, and it turned out to be the button on the fob hitting against a tube of chap stick. I was laying on the floor of a bus I was working on, and leaned on my right side. Funny as hell, when I finally figured it out.

MIKE

[1990LTD]

Nah but I figured the keys might be swinging around and hitting the column or dash so I took em out (my door/ign. key is worn enough that I can take it out of the ignition in any position) and it remained.


I haven't seen any sign of Frank since then. I do have some other strangeness happening..instead of starting another thread;

I have a 3G alternator. It's wired up fine exactly as it should be, but what started happening (I assumed this based on the evidence at the time) was that the battery light would come on. No drop in voltage and the light was flickering (it would be off for an hour of driving then start, or it would come on with the fuel pump priming and not go out, but driving down the road it'd randomly flicker a few times then go out.

I figured the butt splice connection I used to join the alternator green wire to the cars green wire was done poorly, so I snipped it out and joined them again. Problem seemed to be solved...a few months later the same light started flickering. No voltage drop or running problems, did the same thing to the connection, because I'm new to this I figured my butt splice connection wasn't done well once again so I did it once again. Strangely enough all of the other connections I've made have held up fine.

Problem solved? Yep, for a while. In a fit of "If this doesn't fucking fix it, I don't know why" I snipped and reconnected the wire. Light is still flickering.


I do not know what could be causing this other than a short in the green charge wire for the warning lamp somewhere along the line - That somewhere must be close to the alternator because every time I redid the connection it would go out for a period of time - until this most recent episode.

It is charging fine, no voltage drop (I have a voltmeter on my dash to keep an eye on it) when the light is flickering or ever. I check my battery voltage before I try to start the car and it's fine above 12 (well, of course, or I'd have started a "why isn't my car starting?!" thread)


any ideas? this gremlin gets named pete.

[85crownHPP]

Is the 3G new or used? Either way it could still be going bad yet still charge. I'd pull it off and take it somewhere to be tested.
I'd start exploring under the dash, under the hood, and behind the kick panels to find that module and maybe frank - it should look very non-OEM

[1990LTD]

Reman


Nobody knows if there is any place to have it tested. I asked at the parts store and was told to put it on and see if it works because nobody has a bench tester around here.


The fact that the flickering light went away after re crimping the connection confuses the hell out of me. The light would not flicker for months after fixing the crimp.


Could I cobble together a new harness from a Taurus or something? I'm gonna find one to test my theory that the eBay harness I bought wasn't put together terribly well or of quality materials

[GM_Guy]

Start looking under the dash for that aftermarket box. Its name is Fred and it must be disemboweled.

Alex.

[1990LTD]

I use the remote starter daily, this is the only trouble it has ever given me. Assuming it was the remote starter doing this to me - Like I said, there's a difference between what happened and what happens when I press the lock/unlock/trunk buttons on my remote. Flashing of lights is much slower when the buttons are pushed.


I don't know why a car without power locks or a trunk popper would have those buttons do -anything- but I might just be ignorant in the ways of installing a remote starter.

I want to find the remote starter just to examine to find out how the thing is wired. Are any components of a remote system underhood at all? Or usually contained under the dash/near ign switch


I know nothing about remote starters and where they're installed in the existing circuits

[GM_Guy]

Bad connection. Get under the dash (notice a pattern here?) and look for those pos scotch locks. Ideally, remove them, connect the wires properly. Theres likely a bad connection at one of those.
You will also probably end up in the steering column, maybe the drivers door (for some reason, alarm kits seem to want you to go into the drivers door for the lock functions, rather than the much easier to get to relay pack in the passenger kick panel) and the passenger kick panel.

Alex.