Not turning over (lost all electrics)

[Mmmjai]

I was coming home from camping, first lost all gauges (Speedo, fuel, rpms ect..) shut down. Kept driving to nearest servo, turned the car off and it wouldn’t start. Jump started it and only drove a km down the road and it was chugging and stalled at a round about. Any ideas on what the issue could be?

I believe maybe a fuse or alternator? (Just don’t know what fuse it would be, if someone could point me in the right direction)

2004 3L diesel zd30

Cheers guys!

 

[Horatius]

What about connections at the alternator and battery? This "could" be caused through something as simple as a corroded battery post and poor connections. Is the battery itself ok?

With the car running (if you can get it running), what voltage are you getting at +ve clamp, and then the battery post itself?

Had this happen a couple of times (though not in the Nav). Both times in middle of nowhere at night and had to drive using a torch lol. Once it was the alternator on the way out (was intermittent), another time it was the main fusible link. Think (but not certain) this would be in the fuse/ relay box in the engine bay.

 

[tweak'e]

check all the fuses and fusible links.
if alternator is not charging your going to run out of battery quickly and once battery voltage runs low the injection pump has a really hard time trying to run and causes chugging. as we found out when the alternator plug came loose.

 

[Old.Tony]

Happened to me, we were towing the van and just restarted it after a stop in Mudgee. It ended up being a fusible link. The main one, in fact, that's in the positive battery terminal clamp.

 

[Mmmjai]

check all the fuses and fusible links.
if alternator is not charging your going to run out of battery quickly and once battery voltage runs low the injection pump has a really hard time trying to run and causes chugging. as we found out when the alternator plug came loose.

I’ve tried searching up and seeing what fuses to look at, but have had no luck. you reckon you could send me a photo of which one to pull out? Cheers

 

[tweak'e]

I’ve tried searching up and seeing what fuses to look at, but have had no luck. you reckon you could send me a photo of which one to pull out? Cheers

sorry i don't have the ute here at the moment.

 

[Mmmjai]

I was coming home from camping, first lost all gauges (Speedo, fuel, rpms ect..) shut down. Kept driving to nearest servo, turned the car off and it wouldn’t start. Jump started it and only drove a km down the road and it was chugging and stalled at a round about. Any ideas on what the issue could be?

I believe maybe a fuse or alternator? (Just don’t know what fuse it would be, if someone could point me in the right direction)

2004 3L diesel zd30

Cheers guys!

This is what’s happening when I turn the key

 

[tweak'e]

the crack in the top of the glow plug relay is not a good sign.

but the clicking sounds like the battery is dead (clicking slows down as batter voltage drops). either a really bad connection or more likely battery is buggered.
a volt meter across the battery will soon tell you.

 

[Old.Tony]

^ Absolutely, but I'd let the battery sit overnight before testing with a multimeter. Again, happened to me recently: I stopped to help a person who slid on a corner, ran off the road, hit a tree, somersaulted through a fence into a paddock and came to rest with barbed wire wrapped around their car - they had taken a bend too fast. It was raining, I left my hazard lights on, but turned off the engine ... I was with the car for about 20 minutes and the car made those exact same sounds when I returned. I got jump-started by the SES who were attending the accident and we were away again.

This was just 2 days after a battery test in Maitland, the person pronounced the battery "in great condition". Yes, it made his test cables smoke, but I'd just been driving for an hour to get to him.

So I had a good battery - showed the right voltage, delivered good amps, but couldn't last very long. Replaced the battery and haven't had a problem since.

 

[Horatius]

I’ve tried searching up and seeing what fuses to look at, but have had no luck. you reckon you could send me a photo of which one to pull out? Cheers

Too dark at the moment to bother with pics, but it tells you on the fuse/relay box cover. Which is on the drivers side of the engine bay rearward of the battery. It says something like "FL Battery 80A" (FL being a fusible link). There are only two 80A fusible links in there (one for glow plugs). A visual inspection should tell you if it's blown, if not a multimeter will.

 

[Horatius]

PS. There's a 10A fuse in the fuse block in the cabin (marked no.11) that goes to gauges and alternator light. If that's blown it'll jump start, but your alternator might not work (and the light won't illuminate to let you know this). So you would have no gauges and your battery will keep going flat. Worth a try? Could also be an ignition relay problem, also worth a try.

First thing I'd do is jump start it and measure the alternator output.

 

[Horatius]

Here's a link to the relevant part of the manual with the schematics.