[Shotimes] Electrical

[George Fourchy]

On Fri,  7 Oct 2005 16:58:40 -0400 (EDT), Kenneth wrote:

>Would a low battery(5.49 amp)make the tach go nuts?Like move to 4k while starting.

Yes it will.

When I left a car (Plus from Hell) at my preferred shop for long term a/c work, the
battery ran down over time...it was there a month or so.  They use a small power
pack to start dead-battery cars, and when I used it to crank this one, the tach
jumped to about 4 or 5 K rpm the instant I turned the key.  By the time I let go, it
was all the way around to the high side.  It stayed there, and was unusable until it
was reset.  The car started ok, but it had no speedo and now no tach.  That's an
interesting experience...driving a SHO with NO speed indication.

I had heard about that tach thing happening before, and it definitely was the cause
for me....low cranking amperage.

If your battery only has 8 volts, it is definitely discharged.  Charge it overnight,
like Paul said.  If it still won't crank the car at the speed you are used to
hearing, get a new one.  Apparent cranking speed is the first indication of a dying
battery, at least for me.  If the cranking speed starts slower than normal then
speeds up, you are about to lose the battery.  It's happened twice, on Lowrider, and
also on one of the Mustangs...in that case it wound up stranding my daughter in the
middle of nowhere at 2 am.

George