VX Electrical Poltergeist caught on video

[SilverBullet75]

http://youtu.be/6q1sS0G-m2M

I started my VX today and began driving through the parking lot and a poltergeist took control my the electrical system.
Anybody ever seen this and/or know what is causing it?
I turned off the car and restarted it.... all is fine. Drove home 20 miles no issues.

---JIM---

[Mile High VX]

Haven't seen in my VX, but had a Taurus that did something similar...ended up being a coin in the cigarette lighter that made the electrical system go nuts...:bwgy::smilewink:bgwo::bgwb:

[SilverBullet75]

Interesting... I have a USB adapter in the lighter plug.
I'll play around with it to see if it does it again.

[etlsport]

Very odd. Do you have a scangauge or anything to measure system voltage in realtime? My guess is the system voltage is too high or too low.. Likely an alternator on its way out or tensioner giving up

[Y33TREKker]

Maybe something to do with your ignition switch? It looks similar to what happens when you turn the key on and the computer/vehicle starts going through it's self-diagnostics (including idiot light testing) during startup.

[SilverBullet75]

That was my thought as well.
Do our ignition switches have the plastic replaceable switch piece like other cars?

[evillecutter]

xmas light show your vx is in the holiday spirit

[SilverBullet75]

LOL
That's awesome!


BTW... I thought of some more symptoms to list:

- ABS light started coming on last week. Goes off when I restart... sometimes (not just the light, also functionality). Related?

- When the issue happened yesterday, it also shut off the car stereo.

*Update: Drove another 30 miles this morning. No electrical issue like yesterday.

[BOARZHEAD]

Sounds like a bad ground

[pbkid]

Sounds like a bad ground

second this. Looks like a ground is shorting out to me.

maybe start the VX up, get under the dash and wiggle all the wires possible and see if the dash flips out at all.

i could see the electrical voltage issues too...

[Ldub]

second this. Looks like a ground is shorting out to me.

maybe start the VX up, get under the dash and wiggle all the wires possible and see if the dash flips out at all.


Any wires in close proximity to your feets/pedals could be getting moved?...:confused:

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/DSC03765.JPG

[SilverBullet75]

LOL
Awesome DuB...

I drove it a bunch more today... no issues.
I HATE random/sporadic issues like these.
They are so hard to diagnose since they don't happen regularly.
I'll try moving wires tomorrow. Hopefully something will trigger it.

[BOARZHEAD]

When i had my 1999 vx had simular problems. Main wire harness on driverside behind headlight was mounted to radiator support from factory with a pointed screw behind it. It worked its way into harness and would ground wires. If yours is 1999 look there. My 2000 the screw and harness are not near each other. I will post pic of what i mean. My truck would buck and try to die then nothing for weeks. Found this by accident when truck was running i had my hands around harness and it did it. Had to pull harness out alittle and re heatshrink wires then was fixed

[SilverBullet75]

I'll check that too. Mine's a 2001, but it's worth checking anyway.
I removed the air cleaner box and replaced it with a cone filter about a month ago. Maybe something was moved...?

[BOARZHEAD]

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/23145/ppuser/472
http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/23144/ppuser/472
follow this whole harness down fender to below headlight. with truck running wiggle harnes. Good luck.

[Y33TREKker]

When i had my 1999 vx had simular problems. Main wire harness on driverside behind headlight was mounted to radiator support from factory with a pointed screw behind it. It worked its way into harness and would ground wires. If yours is 1999 look there. My 2000 the screw and harness are not near each other. I will post pic of what i mean. My truck would buck and try to die then nothing for weeks. Found this by accident when truck was running i had my hands around harness and it did it. Had to pull harness out alittle and re heatshrink wires then was fixed
Now that you mention it, that culprit does sound very similar to another thread years ago where similar symptoms were listed. It seems like in that past case, it was the wire harnesses' routing near a piece of framework in the area of the headlight that caused the framework itself to start wearing through the insulation on some of the wiring, but the result was the same. Missing insulation on a group of wires run in the same bundle could absolutely cause a multitude of problems that wouldn't normally be related in individual circuits.

[SilverBullet75]

I checked the wiring harness in the headlight area. No damage. Wasn't able to get it to fail while the engine was running. In fact, the harness was almost hard as rock.

I did find two possible culprits though...

1. Both battery terminals had a thin film of corrosion at the mating surfaces.
... Cleaned and tightened.

2. Replaced my stereo (Christmas present! Click here to see! (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B0090EC7BM/ref=dp_image_z_0?ie=UTF8&n=1077068&s=car))
...Cleaned up wiring. Moved head unit to lower position where the CD changer used to be. Mounted iPhones (x2) to top location.
Found exposed hot wire dangling!
Removed during re-wire.

Issue has not returned...
To be continued.
Thank you for all assistance!

[BOARZHEAD]

Good luck. hope that its solved...