'87 5KCSQ finally attacked by electrical gremlins:-(

[Sheffield Corey]

Dear fellow Audinauts,

Well, after ten years of nothing more major than a few
bushings, a "bomb", a central hydraulic pump, and what
I hope will turn out to be nothing more than a master
cylinder the electrical gremlins have attacked my '87
5KCSQ. I've been away on a research cruise for the
last month or so and last night on the back from my
girlfriend's place I was "exercising" some of the
equipment: cycling the diff. locks, working the
electrical switches, etc. I feel this is good practice
when the car has been sitting. Well, I pull back the
the high beam flasher and the next thing I know the
ABS off light is on, the red handbrake and battery
lights are on weakly and the computer warning window
up top is beeping and showing the battery symbol. It
was raining an I figured maybe some moisture had
worked its way into something and I would deal with it
the next day. Today was a beautiful day here in
southern New England hit 75F. here; car started with
no problems and I had no bad lights. I made it to my
girlfriend's house, parked my car and was about to
shut it off when I watched all the electrical problems
start anew right before my eyes. Only this time the
boost gauge has joined 'em; it's jumping from the
usual .3-.4 at idle to 1.7, 1.8, 1.4...it's all over
the scale. I go to close the sun roof and it's slow as
molasses, as is the drivers window...didn't check the
others. I pulled out the back seat and slapped a
voltage meter across the battery and it's 9.0 volts.
"OK" says I, let's just pull out the trusty charger
and put a charge on this three year old Champion
International. I had checked the fluid level before
leaving on the cruise and knew it to be OK. By the
time I had charged the battery the beautiful and been
replaced by darkness and rain. After running for 5
minutes the battery had dropped to 11 volts and
everything was still slow to operate and the dim
warning lights were still present.

Now I know that the "monkey boyz" at Han's Imports
that replaced my heater core a few years back did
something under the dash that I have never been able
to find and repair: one door auto locking, proper
climate control vent selection all went away. And the
inside/outside temperature reading which in the
daytime with the headlights off can only be viewed now
if I open the glove box then the light gets bright
enough to be viewed are all problems that came with
the new heater core. Anyways, I've spent about an hour
in the archives and have printed out some data I will
check tomorrow, but do these symptoms sound familiar
to anyone? Is there a tried and true easy fix to be
had? I have had this car for ten years now and it is
like an old friend; I am gone 4-5 months a year on
cruises so a new car is a waste of money as this car
is still quite presentable. All suggestions are
greatly appreciated...I had just ordered the new
master cylinder too:-(

TIA,

Shef


=====
Sheffield Corey
'87 5KCSTQ
'87 XL600R
'66 Corvette Coupe
"Quattro: The way to GO! when conditions say: NO!!!"
But as a wise fellow once said: "4x0=2x0".

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. 
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/