Hello,

I've been having an odd problem with my 96 850 wagon very recently. On rare occasion the car will lose the entire electrical system. Everything shuts down, cluster, ignition, radio, you name it. About 1/2 second later (so far) it all comes back on like nothing happened - no CEL or any indication it had a failure. No error codes on the ECU. The only indication that something is amiss is that occasionally the vehicle lights will flicker, but remain on. This is the first time the entire system has shut down.

I'm thinking it's a ground failure with the battery or a problem with the voltage regulator. The car puts out about 13.2 V regardless of RPM, so a tad on the low side. The battery holds a charge well. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks

Check, clean, and then double check the battery terminals. On a '96 most of them have a secondary lead off of both of the main battery terminals and that has been known to corrode. Remove and clean the secondary leads that are on the post off of the terminals.

I bought a '96 for my son that was advertised as non running for $350.00 that had the same symptoms. After I cleaned up the secondary battery cables it has not quit since except for a bad starter.

...Lee

At 13.2, it is time to save up for a new alternator because your brushes are about to bite the dust. But the battery will take over for a while when the alternator finally fails.

Check the wiring from the alternator to the battery, battery to the starter, and battery to ground. Also check the engine to frame ground wire. Clean the terminals on the battery, including the wire connectors.

I have had the alternator belt slip and the dash lights up like a christmas tree for a few seconds. So check the belt and tensioner.

Klaus
--
The more I learn, the more I forget. So why learn?

I'd be curious to see what the alternator output was at the alternator itself. The positive cable end crimp at the battery goes bad, causing the cable to overheat. You could even probe the positive cable just down from the crimp to see if there's more voltage there.

Ignition switches do go bad which would kill you radio, cluster, power windows, etc. Try a wiggle back and forth on the key to see if you can get things to fail while your idling.

No ground cable issues that I'm aware of, but some attention to the battery and its cables is where I'd start.

Cool, thanks guys, I really appreciate it.

The voltage was measured at the battery contacts, so a dirty terminal could possibly drop the voltage a bit. I'll clean them and check the belt tension tomorrow. It hadn't occurred to me that a faulty ignition switch could cause it, I'll see if I can reproduce the problem.

Probably worth looking into a new alternator, but I'll check the voltage at its output first.