Re: Problems with 5K

[Huw Powell <human@nh.ultranet.com>]

> My spare car, '83 5K, sat in my driveway for about a week and suddenly
> is doing some weird things. I can a hear a fairly loud whining from
> under the hood, sounds like a Ford power steering pump at full lock.
> The power steering belt was screaming so I tightened the snot out of
> it but it still screams when the wheel is turned. There is also a
> noticable loss of engine power. Would a pump in the process of seizing
> be able to take a bunch of power?

Try WD-40 on the belt.  Try a new belt.  Are you sure it's the PS belt:

> Also, when I turn off the car the battery light stays on and buzzes
> and the OXS light glows faintly. The turn signal indicator will glow
> faintly if I leave the signal on after the car is shut off.
> The car gave no warning before doing any of this. Any thoughts on it?

Cause it sure sounds like you've got an electrical snafu going on
there!  And maybe it's the alt. belt trying to keep up (or worn or
loose).  You're going to have to do some careful circuit reading and
troubleshooting to get to the bottom of that weird behaviour unless
someone here has btdt.  The Haynes has the schematic if you don;t have a
Bentley.  

Be careful.  Start by measuring the load on the battery!  (connect test
light in series with ground wire to battery)  You may have a short
somewhere, say a cooked or abraded wire, acting as a ground when the car
is off, energising some circuits, and adding load when the car is on.

In fact, that's what I'd bet.  That's why the stuff that's "on" when the
car is off is only half on.  You've got some junk in series on the way
to that short.  I think.

I once had a catastrophic failure in my 83 5kt that started with a wire
melting, I think  it was to the cold start injector (well i guess it
started with the injector going bad...).  It made a bunch of smoke,
shorted out against something, blowing the fuse, which also ran the fuel
pump.  After I got it back from a garage it was hacked bad, no parking
lights, christmas tree dashboard, etc.  I had to get serious, spent a
weekend with the schematic and replaced the bad wires, put the things
they'd screwed up back together, and then i was all set.

Hope this helps more than it hurts!

-- 
Huw Powell

http://www.thebook.com/human-speakers

If you want to work the street alone,
I'll disappear for you...
I'm your man.         (Leonard Cohen)