XF Falcon electrical woes

[scooter]

This sure has Nothing To Do With Woodwork.

My Falcon wagon has what I suspect is some sort of earthing fault in the electrics. When I'm driving & have a few accessories on such as the headlights, wipers, heater fan, etc. the dash guages kind of flick back and forth a bit. It seems to be interrupting, or at least sapping the power momentarily as the fan "stutters" a bit, or the wipers pause very slightly before going, then doing it again.

Happened yesterday going to work early in the morn, too much draw with a few things running and the headlights cut out :eek: :eek: :eek: . Hit the brakes, flicked the switch off then on & they started again, thank goodness.

Anyone got any idea how/where to start hunting the problem down?

Appreciate greatly any help.............thanks...........Sean :confused:

[bitingmidge]

Can't help, sorry.....

but I do remember Alan Moffat many years ago at Bathurst having to retire his car after what seemed to be a monumental engine failure.

Idiot interviewer (II): "Tell us what happened Alan.."

AM: "We had a small electrical problem"

II: "A small electrical problem?"

AM:" Yes. One of the pistons knocked the distributor off the side of the block....."



P

[journeyman Mick]

Sean,
this is probably not your problem but it would be a good idea to check it out just so you can eliminate it from your list. If it's an XF and the windscreen leaks then it may be the control module. Behind the left hand kick/scuff panel (to the side of your foot, in front of the front door) is the box that controls the engine. The cretins, sorry, highly trained engineers that put this car together put it back here with the wiring loom plugging into the top of it. If you have any leaking in the windscreen (and you may not know about it) the water will find its way into the top of the box where the connector is. All the components are "potted" (that is, encased in a plastic/rubber type compound) but given enough water over enough time the water will get in to the components and cause them to play up. I have a mate who's a mechanic and he used to amaze XF falcon owners whose cars had conked out on rainy days. When they rang up to say that they'd broken down he'd tell them that they had a leaky windscreen, and invariably he'd be right. You can take the box out and put it in a low oven for 4 hours or so and things will run again. Unfortunately the wiring loom hasn't got enough play in it to allow you to turn it round so the opening faces down. Having just typed all this however I'm thinking that your initial hunch is probably closer to the money. A good place to start checking is the engine earth lead. The battery usually has a heavy earth lead which is connected to the battery at one end and the body at the other. Then there's usually a seperate lead which earths the engine to the body. This might run from the body where the battery earth lead is connected but it may also run from the bell housing to the body. This lead is often left off after engine rebuilds, clutch or gearbox service/replacement or sometimes is damaged as it's low to the ground. If this lead is missing then the engine will only be earthed through things like speedo,choke and accelerator cables which can cause these to melt or catch fire :eek: . Good place to start checking anyway.

Mick

[scooter]

Thanks for the good ideas Mick, you're right, the windscreen until recently (& the best part of a tube of mastic ) did leak like a sieve, the car is an early xf (super fuel, remember that?) carby 4.1 so don't think it has an ECU or similar, but it's definitely worth a look - will go fossicking around the kick panel when I get a chance in the next few days- bugger this wintry weather!

Otherwise will look for the other earth lead you mentioned.

Midge, you're a clown Hadn't heard that quote, good 'un. I have an older brother so when we were kids riding our bikes he always got to be Brockie & I had to be Moffat.

Anyone else with any ideas please chip in.......cheers.......Sean

[Dan]

The headlights on my XF (ute) went out once but it was only for about a second (felt like eternity on the highway at 100k's). Anyway I went home and pulled the switches out of the instrument surround (headlights/instrument lamp, hazard lights, wipers and demister) unplugged them, sprayed the plugs and inside the switches with something like INOX and put it all back together. The problem didn't return so I can only guess I might have fixed it. While you are at it you might as well have a look under the dash and in the engine bay and spray any wiring plugs that you find, pull them apart if you can (there's usually a little latch on one half that has to be held down) and spray inside.

[jackiew]

do cars have regulator-rectifiers? Had a couple of m/bikes where this component failed ... result was enough power for lights or ignition but not both ... interesting experience when you're some distance from home on a winter's night :eek:

[AlexS]

Seems to be a common motorbike problem....I've also had it with several bikes. Also had an intermittent problem with instruments & lights going dim, then bike refusing to restart. Check electrics, nothing obvious & bike would restart & be OK for a while, then same again. Turned out to be several generations of spiders. One would cause a short & get frazzled. Several days/weeks later, the next generation would hatch...same thing again. Eventually gave it the decent clean it should have had in the first place & problem disappeared.