[DeTomaso] NPC: strange clicking and gauges jumping

doug351c doug351c at gmail.com
Tue May 31 00:22:19 EDT 2011


Thanks for all the suggestions.  New battery solved it.

The relays clicking with the key out of the ignition, while simultaneously
measuring 12.5VDC at the battery, threw me for a loop.  It made me think
either a relay or the computer had to be bad since 12.5V is enough to
satisfy the computer.  Even when the key was turned to the ON or START
positions, which caused the gauges to jump around, still showed 12.3V at the
battery (yes I cleaned the terminals).  But the computer was cycling at such
a low duty cycle that it didn't show on the meter until I switched it to
MIN/MAX mode which showed momentary drops to 7VDC which was not enough to
keep the computer happy.  An oscilloscope would have revealed the problem
easily.

Doug

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Londry [mailto:davel at emspace.com]
Sent: Monday, May 30, 2011 4:21 PM
To: Rob Dumoulin
Cc: doug351c at gmail.com; DeTomaso Forum
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] NPC: strange clicking and gauges jumping


I think clicking with the key off means that a hot relay has failed
short from +12 to the control line
  and is powering up the control and dash stuff.
Pull the always-powered relays until it goes away.

Marlyn's old Villager Van used to fry the horn relay like that every 3-4
years.
dave


On 5/30/2011 3:55 PM, Rob Dumoulin wrote:
> Typically a clicking sound means there is not enough power to turn the
> starter.  First thing to try is clean the terminals, but it sounds like
you
> may have done that when you disconnected the battery. Check the ground
wire.
> Because the gauges are acting up along with the starter, I'd guess that it
> is a defective battery or there is a bad connection at the battery.  Have
> you tried to jump it off?
>
> On Mon, May 30, 2011 at 6:49 PM, doug351c<doug351c at gmail.com>  wrote:
>
>> Guys,
>>
>> I have a 2002 Ford Explorer that was running fine, stopped home to grab
>> something, and when I jumped back in and tried to start it, there was
>> nothing, no cranking.  I turned the key back to off and either a relay or
a
>> circuit breaker in the engine compartment fuse box started clicking (with
>> the key off!).  I turned the key back to on and the gauges started
jumping
>> up and down between 1/3 and 1/2 scale along with the clicking.  I turned
>> the
>> key to start and still no cranking.  I disconnected the battery and it
>> measured 12.6V so it was not low.  I reconnected the battery and still
got
>> the clicking with no key and gauge jumping with key-on.  Anyone heard of
>> this?
>>
>> Doug Braun
>> blue 73L #5505
>>
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