Re: 89 100 Wagon charging system woes :-(

["Scott M." <scottmo@teleport.com>]

Mike responded:
> Although, the cables didn't have any nasty green goo
> on either the starter end or battery end.  
>  Is the positive cable that goes from the starter to the
battery
> a straight thru cable ? or is there another connector or
lug
> along the way ?  anybody know ?

Well, funny you should ask, I would have never believed
that the main positive battery cable would be spliced but
according to the Bentley diagram the main battery cable
goes from the battery positive post with using a cable
(Black color) with a cross sectional area of 25 square mm
and changes somewhere along the way changes to a cable
(Brown/Yellow color) with 16 square mm area. The connection
is designated as a "welded" connection. The parts
micro-fiche shows the main battery cable (harness)
splitting into two main cables, one goes to the starter and
the other goes to the fuse box. A check under the back seat
on my 89 200TQ shows the positive battery post connection
has one large black cable and two smaller ( 6.0sq.mm) red
wires (the two red wires go to the fuse box just as the
Bentley wiring diagram indicates). This thick black cable
continues (looks to be the same size) up under the right
side carpet up past where the ECU is mounted under the
right front passenger kick panel. My guess is that this
welded connection occurs somewhere under the right side
dash area before this main battery cable exits out into the
engine compartment underneath where the steering rack is.
It would be interesting to find out just where they put
this splice and why? 

Go figure.......this may be where your problem is
occurring......although it would seem odd, if this welded
splice connection really is under the dash, it should be
protected from any corrosion problems. You may want to
stick your voltage probe into the wire strands at the
positive battery terminal and measure the voltage and rule
out a lousy terminal end before tearing up your interior
looking for this splice.
Details, details.......
 
> Scott, I'm using a sunpro 7680 or some number like that
:-)
> it has ac, dc, ohms, dwell, and tach for a 5cyl on it. 
The
> ohm dial has 200k, 20k, 2k and a tone setting.  The
number
> it showed was 0.000.  I did touch them together before I 
> ohmed anything out and they said 0.000.  Is this what you
were
> looking for ?

These inexpensive meters are really only good at resolving
down to 0.1 ohms which is not good enough for checking a
low resistance high amperage connection.

Let us know what you find....

Cheers
Scott M.
89 200TQ
CHIPDIPPINDUDE