Had to get jump start from my son last night

[mrmustang]

So at 7:30pm decide to head out to the local ice cream shop with my wife (celebrating our 25th next month) for some much needed internal cooling. Hop in to 188 and she fires right up, settles to idle and we back her out and head out. Temps had dropped to 79 degrees from a high of 96 so it feels good to ride the twisty back roads to the ice cream shop. Pull in and grab the first spot (some times it's all about timing ), get inside and get waited on immediately (usually a ten minute wait/line), grab our stuff and head on out to the benches, relax and devour our ice cream with gleeful abandon.....Watch the sun starting to set and get back in the car for the ride home, turn the key, and I get one revolution on the starter then click, click, click as I listen to the electric fuel pump in the trunk sound like it's dying as well......Now I'm thinking, I just replaced the Red Top battery this spring, can't be that, could it be the alternator, quick call to my son and 20 minutes later he arrives with the jumper cables and a car load of his friends for supervision of this process. Hook up the cables and allow the mighty Subaru (his words not mine) to add a little juice to the battery for an attempt to start the car. ....5 minutes and $30.00 in additional ice cream later (they came down, who was I not to buy them something for the inconvieance in their evening plans) we fire up 188 without a problem, I start checking the basics, no turn signals,no electric fan, heck, I'm running on the alternator only. Now I'm thinking, NO LIGHTS for the ride home, better be a quick ride home before it really gets dark........So we bid adieu to the ice cream shop and head on down back to the house. Get it into the garage, disconnect the battery and put it on the bench with a 2amp trickle charger (full charge this morning) and head off to the comfort of the back deck to forget about my embarrassment and enjoy some additional cool liquid refreshments.....Wake up at 5am this morning (every day without and alarm clock, I do not know what it is like to actually sleep in late) and start checking the electrical system out, all contacts are good, grounds clean and in place, I know that the alternator was working since I drove home without the battery charged (it was completely dead by the time we got home).......So, I grab a new solid state (generic from the local auto parts dealer in NJ, $9.99 and with a receipt dated 8/12/2005, not sure what I had originally bought it for but it will work for now) voltage regulator out of the cabinet (when you have a bunch of old Fords, you always have tune up parts and such sitting in a cabinet) and install that. Reinstall the battery, roll the car outside the garage (hey it is 6:58am we do not want to wake the rest of the family just yet) and fire it right up, damn, look at that,hit the electric fan switch and the amp gauge now works (best way to check, start up the car, let it idle, and throw a high draw item on and see if the amp gauge moves at all which I noticed on the trip down to the ice cream shop last night it did not move at all which in the back of my mind thought was a little strange).....Will take the battery down to the shop tomorrow and check to make sure I do not have a bad cell, will also check the alternator again, but I believe it was the voltage regulator based on process of elimination on the charging loop. Wish there was a way to test the old voltage regulator so I could be sure, but will not lose sleep over it.............


Anyone else experience a similar occurrence with their Cobra(s)? Originally I was embarrassed that I had to call for assistance, but I guess sooner or later it happens to all of us......


Yours In Fords,

Bill S.

PS: Now it's time to wake the wife and head out to breakfast, maybe we'll take the cobra and see if it is happy again