FTO AUSTRALIA

Well after reading several threads here and the UK forums seems that the electrical system is the biggest thorn in the FTO, and we were unlucky enough to fall victim to it yesterday.

Saturday - car drove fine, absolutely no problems
Sunday - unlocked car, that was okay.
5 min later went to start the car and there was ZERO power to the car. Not even a relay switching, nothing at all.

I put a in-car charger on the battery, didn't charge - which usually means battery has <3V - which puzzled me. Standard battery but nothing was left on overnight and it hasn't had any problems before, there should have been residual voltage anyway.

A few min later power came back, but when my gf tried turned the key it died again (nothing turning over, zero power again).

Got a jump start, and it was fine
Took it for a test drive, when the brake were first hit it seemed to drop the revs, next time the brakes were used car just died again, and again no power

Towed home, NRMA said dirty battery terminals, gave them a good clean and it seemed to be okay. Battery voltage tested to read 13.6V.

All seems to be okay now but the gf reckons idle drops a fair bit whenever the brakes are hit, more so than normal.

So without taking it to a sparky (which I'll do later in the week) - anyone want to point me in the direction of which particular piece in the system I should be looking at??

Ta..

Ok this might sound stupid, but have u check your stepper/idle motor?

I didn't really check much beyond it all last night because it was too damn cold! But yeah, I've read plenty about the alt / stepper motor issues so my first thought was one of them.

Bit worried though because the power just cut for my gf's car right in the middle of the road. If it was on the motorway or something that's not something I'm keen to experience again. Is that a symptom that could possibly point towards the stepper motor Kevin?

I had a very similar problem when my stepper motor is gone, it just die at a middle of a right turn, lucky i had enough speed to carry it through or i'm stuff for sure.

hey kid

dirty terminals is a problem with most people as they never clean them...they replace the alternator and don't even clean the terminals?? wtf!

anyway if thats been done I would be going with the stepper motor theory as over the past few months all issues that sounded similar have been that...once replaced everyone has been fine!

I would say that it isn't related to the stepper motor. If it was the stepper, the car should still have power, it just won't idle properly...

I would look to the power connections, fuses, terminals, battery terminals as someone else mentioned.

Make sure your battery is secure and not moving around.

Something could also be shorting? If you notice the voltage dropping when you apply brakes, maybe that circuit is faulty?

Mike

I have been caught with that electrical problem, found that on of my terminals was dirty, so I went to clean it but it was very corroded and broke, so had to buy a new one.

With the brakes and the revs dropping, it could be a vacuum leak somewhere, it could be the brake booster vacuum hose or in the brake booster itself.

Could be your voltage regulator gone berserk? Have you got a system in your car?

Lots of suggestions - thanks for all the info so far! I took the car out for a drive myself last night..

Spoke to my gf and I got it slightly messed up - the voltage is dropping, not the revs.

So as onnzo said, I don't think it's a stepper issue. Car has the standard audio system, battery is secure, and no mods which would affect this..

Battery voltage is okay when driving, approx 13.6V

However when I'm sitting still, and flick on accessories (eg hit the brakes, air con, headlights, demister etc), it takes a pretty heavy voltage drop, down to just over 12V, more than it used to before. She says it has happened while driving too yesterday.

With that in mind, I'm leaning towards a battery / terminal issue. Might get the terminals replaced, new wiring to the battery and if necessary, replace the battery (not sure how old it is, at least two years).

yeah I would just get a new battery...and clean the current end sof the leads.

Although that doesn't really explain the car losing all power while driving..

garrh, that's the only piece of the puzzle I don't get.

Sounds like a voltage regulator on the way out...