Lost power

[csw]

Was enjoying my ride home tonight almost as much as my ride into work this morning, when all of the sudden the red light on the dash comes on, I lose power, and coast to the shoulder. Do an inspection, wait a few minutes, fire back up and head the last few miles home. Try to blow the the horn at the mechanic that stopped to help, and nothing. By the time I get home the horn starts working, so It sounds like a short, but when I fired it back up, it made a noise like a sparking issue. Thoughts?

[DWRAT]

I would start with checking any and all ground wires.

[Gaz64]

As above, check all grounds and heavy 12v.

Do you know where in the car you heard the sparking from?

Gary

[Tommy]

First off, be careful. Loss of power is one thing. Sparking sounds mean an electrical fire is a possibility. ... If you have a friend who can help, losen the positve cable at the battery so your friend can pull it off in a moment if needed. Then start wiggling cables and checking connections. As said above, it is most likely a bad ground or perhaps a loose connection to your ignition system. But it is also possible for it to be a short circuit due to worn insulation or the like. ... As the red light worked but the engine and horn didn't, I'd focus on wires that are common to the ignition and horn.

[patrickt]

If you can hear it, you can see it. Fire it up at night and look under the hood. Have a fire extinguisher at the ready, just in case. If you have a "leaky" ignition system, you'll spot it in the pitch dark.

[Millsy]

I had this same noise and electrical gremlins on my vette because someone at the dealership had put a battery saver quick disconnect on my battery cable which was not made to be used on the car. I doubt you have one on the battery cable but you never know, it looks like this. https://www.bing.com/images/search?q...ct&FORM=IRIBEP

[DanEC]

A very long shot but make sure the connection of the heavy wire at the alternator is good and tight. The bolt on mine got loose somehow and it caused all sorts of issues. Ended up melting the alternator stud insulator and frying insulation off of about a foot of the wire.

[Axel 427]

Mine did something similar to this. Check the positive lugs underneath the little black plastic box mounted on your firewall. You will have to use a short phillips screw driver to gain access. This is for you battery cut off switch. Once I got the box removed, I found the 2 nuts on the 2 post were so loose, I could turn them with 2 fingers. Don't be a dummy like me and forget to disconnect the battery while tightening with wrench............

Hope this helps

Vance

[Axel 427]

Mine did something similar to this. Check the positive lugs underneath the little black plastic box mounted on your firewall. You will have to use a short phillips screw driver to gain access. This is for you battery cut off switch. Once I got the box removed, I found the 2 nuts on the 2 post were so loose, I could turn them with 2 fingers. Don't be a dummy like me and forget to disconnect the battery while tightening with wrench............

Hope this helps

Vance

[csw]

Thanks for all the advice and places to start the trouble shooting...don't think it will be anything major, but was headed in this week or next for new tires and oil change so I guess we will add this to the list!
Speaking of oil, what are you guys running? I have the FMS 392 that originally was running 10w30 GTX, but the mechanic suggested changing to 15w40 to see if we could stop it from using oil to no avail. I talked to Maurice at Unique and Lyle at southern automotive, both suggesting 50w Lucas racing oil.
Thanks, and the willingness to share the good and bad experiences are what make this hobby great!
Chris

[Zeke]

Curious as to what the cause of the issue was?

[spdbrake]

The installation sheet on that motor calls for 20-50W.
https://performanceparts.ford.com/do...7-A392D392.pdf

Your using hyd roller lifters so not stuck with a ZPPD oil.
I use Valvoline VR1 10-30W but need it for my flat tappet cam.

[csw]

Zeke, currently it's in "timeout" which is killing me on these nice mornings and evenjngs in GA, but waiting to get it in the shop.
Thinking back to our conversation with the mechanic that stopped behind me, I thought he said spark, but I think he might have said arcing. At that point when you are on the side of the road at dusk and scrambling to get home before dark, I might have been a little distracted!
Going to look at the grounds tonight that tommy and axel 427 mentioned.
Spdbrake, thanks for the link.

[AZ Cobra Mike]

I use the Valvoline VR-1 20w-50. Has never failed any motor I've run and I've never heard anything bad about it.

[csw]

Follow up to two issues:
1. I know some of you will cringe, but I let a buddy drive one time before he moved out of town. After driving a few times and thinking something wasn't right with the seat, I remembered he moved it up and I never moved it back. I think I shifted into 5th then adjusted in the seat, and hit the key with my left knee causing it to shut off. At least that's what I'm hoping, but haven't had any problems since then.
2. Car had smoked since I got it (850 miles when purchased). After running a leak down, we discovered the intake wasn't properly torqued. Fixed that, changed the oil weight, and continued to watch it, driving to see if the rings just hadn't seated. Kept smoking, so back to the shop it went. Got it back last night and so far so good. Come to find out the FMS 392 crate had plastic valve seals so they were replaced with Viton seals, and so far after idling for 30 min and a 30 min ride between rain storms yesterday, no smoke (usually at the red light it would pour out one pipe only). Also replaced plugs while we were at it as it had 3 different brands in.