Wanted to fire up the Mav today but the battery was dead, I did the obvious and tried to jump start the car with my truck. I noticed that when I put my jumper cables on there was a lot of sparking (which was unusual) and the jumper cables were getting very hot to the touch the battery was also getting hot so I removed the cables. I had last started the car on Tuesday and there were know issues at all. The only things that I have done to the car since lasted started was remove the gas tank for cleaning and added the oil pressure sending unit which is copper tubing going back to the gauge and temperature gauge mechanical connection that is mounted in the intake manifold. There was no wiring done for the gauges yet and the gas tank has not been reinstalled either. Just for information sake the fuel line is in the gas can for starting. So what is causing the sparking and heating of the cables and battery? Help is surely required, Thanks TonyJ
Not trying to make you feel dumb but you could be changing polarity when jumping cables are been used. Would not hurt to try and check. Also if you are having this sparks and working with an open can with gasoline, I would seriously reconsider this whole excercise. No insult intended. Good luck and be safe!
I was trying to find a way to say that without giving offense. Nice job!! That's the only thing I could think of that wouldn't also have s tell-tale fire to go along with it.
I wud charge the battery w/ a charger and see what happens. If u still hve that issue u have a wiring issue somewhere. Battery chargers are relatively inexpensive and everone who has this hobby in their blood - needs one. A lot cheaper than fire damage. Also, as mentioned abt safety, in the prior post - is correct. I recall a "long time ago", a friend and I set his garage and car on fire doing something similiar to what ur doing. Sparks, electricity an gas vapors are a recipe for disaster.
I am using a plastic 5 gallon gas can or jug (however you want to call it) with a rubber fuel line going to it. I only made mention of it considering there is a plug to the fuel sending unit that I removed. I do believe that there is a short, what about alternator or voltage regulator issues. The voltage regulator is new and the alternator is rebuilt.
I would second to check the battery. The "instant" failures that I have experienced where you had no indication of a problem prior to that tend to be a battery problem. Had a battery do that in a "New" car, 50 miles after the warranty ran out. A good way to check is to try the headlights , these aren't hard and fast rules, but can point you in the right direction many times.... if no lights I would suspect an internal short in the battery, dim lights ... weak battery (not charging or run down), bright lights ... you would have a problem somewhere else in the car.
" Coolvettes " has a point. I've had the solenoid stick when trying to start with a low battery. If this happens there may not be enough juice to crank the engine, but it will sure spark when you go to hook up jumpers! If they are not heavy jumpers, they will get hot and not crank the engine. Give the solenoid a whack with a screwdriver handle and try the hookup again. I would take the previous advice to properly charge your battery first, though. Even if the Mav cranks right up, you'll run the risk of frying your alternator trying to charge a dead battery! It would be best to know if the battery is any good and can even take a charge! I've had batteries just puke overnight!
