re. Load reduction relay x-track '84 cgt

[Graham Thackrah]

Hi Ben, Sean, Mike,

> I looked at the wiring diagram for the early '84 Coupe with Sean as his car
> is #9 in my driveway.

heh, now, that's what I call a driveway;)

> Anyway,  X or Load reduction relay as far as I can tell only carries
> ancillary equipment like wipers, defrost, and nothing to do with the
> engine.

that's what I thought, you wouldn't want an engine related component being
switched off when trying to start the car

> What we have observed with the engine running, is that it appears to cutout
> after the fan starts cycling.  It appears to be electrical.
>
> For some reason even after changing voltage reg. and or alternator several
> times, their is no charging.  We observe that the voltage diminishes
> somewhat over time, although I don't beleive this is causing the engine to
> cut-out, as I have an '85 coupe that runs happily for an hour without an
> alternator belt.

If it's not charging then that drop in voltage is the battery draining? If
so, and if you've not got anything else switched on (apart from the rad
fan...) then you could have a short somewhere, I drove for a good 3/4 hr
once with no alt belt, watched the voltmeter drop every time I put the
brakes on:( But if your fan starts cutting in, I would imagine that drains
the battery fairly quickly? I was driving in cool conditions (in daylight
too) so it never came on - I just got nervous in traffic.

I may have missed something somewhere too, didn't you say the x relay
switched components weren't working, the rad fan is on the load reduction
circuit (or it was on my UK '85 90q - US 4kq) so how have you got power to
it?

> The cheater wire appears to me to be a bastard cludge, and has no business
> in the car.  If an additional power wire or ground needs to be run, there
> is a proper way to do this.  The wire eminated from one of the empty relay
> slots - like unused cab or police, which would have been ok, except that it
> then goes up and out through the engine compartment and kind of wraps
> around the car on down all the way to the pump - pretty sloppy.  Based on
> your comment below, you imply that the existing fuel pump wiring is
> inadequate to run the pump and CIS control.  I guess we can look at that.

Would marginal wiring to the fp actually stall the car though? I'd have
thought that it would get enough volts to at least let it idle, even if
the rad fan was on? It usually supplies more than enough fuel for the
needs of the engine, so there's a large margin there.

> We tried substituting an ignition swicth - still cuts out.

bah, never mind, worth a try

> I am beginning to suspect there may be some harness meltdown going on.
>  Sean has been methodiacally isolating the problem however.

If I recall then you have, no charging from the alt. a faulty load
reduction circuit and the car will stop running after the fan starts
cycling, is that a fair summary of the problem(s)? Or is the lr circuit
one fixed?

> Anyway, any hints or tips about wiring deficiencies in this particular
> model would be helpful.

Thought about a whole new loom;)?

Cheerio,

Graham.