1997 965 wagon... my wife drives it. she is encountering what seems to be an electrical short that happens when she turns corners or idles down. i have never been able to replicate problem. Alternator is providing full charge. Any ideas what could this be? Much appreciated. -pete

I would check the connector to the + side of the battery terminal. Corrosion and a loose nut can cause the power to momentarily be lost. Behind the battery is a small rectangular box which houses a few fuses and the main wire from the battery. Make sure that wire is clean at the connection and shows no green corrosion inside the wire. If all that is ok, my next check would be the ground wire to the block. Remove the wire and insert a stainless star washer between the connecter and the block and retighten. Please make sure before you start spending a lot of time chasing wiring problems, that the battery terminals are clean and free of any corrosion. Use a good silicone grease to keep the terminals free of sulfur oxides. Hope you find the problem.

Another WAG...... is the battery securely mounted? A loose battery can shift on turns and temporarily short things out.

DEWFPO
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1998 S90 071,245 and 1995 964 154,100

Dear peterSurfCat,

May this find you well. What kind of "short"?

Specifically, what happens:
(a) Does the car stall?
(b) Does the air-conditioning stop working?
(c) Do lights go out?
(d) Do any warning lights come on?

Without some idea of the symptoms, it will be pretty hard to analyze this.

Yours faithfully,

spook

thanks for your interest, spook

just spoke to my wife, she says this:

"sometimes... when i hit the brake, the headlights, dash lights and radio go off, but then come back on slowly... but the car remains on. And sometimes when i'm slowing down and turning everything dies and the car goes completely dead. but i can put it in park and start it again fine. No warning lights come on."

seems like some kind of intermittant short somehow connected to the brake pedal. What do you think spook?

i am clueless, and like i've said, i can't seem to replicate the problem cause it just doesn't happen when i drive it!

-pete

Just a "WAG" here on my part.

I'm assuming from your description that no fuses have had to be replaced. Sounds like the car is reacting as if the ignition system is shut off. Does your wife's key set have a lot of "stuff" hung on it that is constantly pulling on the switch parts and your key is a single key since you don't drive the car on a regular basis?

IF so the ignition switch may need to be replaced. Maybe the act of turning a corner or putting on the brake makes the mass of "stuff" react and pull on the switch?
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'96 965, 16' wheels, Michelin Pilot Sports, rear 18mm bar + Koni, 201 HP cams, 132K. Put 200K on '85 745 TD.