Spree has a short!

burnt_toast · Post by **burnt_toast** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 10:05 am

This is what I get after weeks of neglect of my spree baby.

About a month ago I started her up, and she ran fine. Now I think there is a short somewhere at the relay or maybe starter.

Here's the conditions:
I was jumping it from a car, and once I turned the key on the rear light came on and got brighter when brake was pressed. However right as I tried to press the start button, the starter barely spun. Felt like if you try starting when you have a very weak battery, but this was being jumped straight from a car battery! (properly at that, car wasn't on)

I tried this a few times, then all of the sudden the rear light dimmed and didn't come back on. I thought I blew the fuse, but it was fine. After waiting a bit the backlight came back on, but if you even attempt to press the start button, you just hear a little click somewhere and then all power is gone.

This is the 1st time I'm actually posting a technical problem with the spree, so I'd be greatful if yall can help me diagnose whats going on.

thx..

vette76 · Post by **vette76** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 10:15 am

this happened to me and it was a short. for me it happened twice. 1 fried starter

2 starter wire shorting out.

since ur jumping it off a car, i would go with # 1 unfortunately.

deathwish · Post by **deathwish** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 10:56 am

i use to jump it off a car battery then all of a sudden it stopped owrkin and all i would hear was the starter realy clicking changed it and never had a problem since

Justinsane · Post by **Justinsane** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 12:00 pm

are you guys saying jumping from a car isnt healthy for the spree? cuz i put a brand new battery in it, and tried to start it for like 5 mins.. then it slowed down to eventually nothing, so i jumped it and fired right up...

should i just spray starter fluid in to make it safer for my spree?

Post by **noiseguy** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 12:21 pm

Some guys jumping Spree's off chargers have fried starters, jumping off a battery should be fine b/c you're voltage limited. I'm betting that your battery is dead (or close to it) and the jumped battery was charging it. You probably also have a poor connection to the starter. Start cleaning connections.

burnt_toast · Post by **burnt_toast** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 9:57 am

noiseguy wrote:Some guys jumping Spree's off chargers have fried starters, jumping off a battery should be fine b/c you're voltage limited. I'm betting that your battery is dead (or close to it) and the jumped battery was charging it. You probably also have a poor connection to the starter. Start cleaning connections.

Yeh it doesn't make sense that the starter was fried, b/c jumping off another battery is safer than using a charger.

As for the jumped battery charging the dead battery, this did happen at first so I connected the cables direcly to the positive and neg. terminal wires w/out connecting anything to the dead battery.

I'll have to check out those starter connections. Any chance that it could be my starter relay malfunctioning?

burnt_toast · Post by **burnt_toast** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 11:58 pm

now my backlight doesnt even come on when I turn the key..

Which relay is the starter relay? The one on the right side of the battery right? Gonna try to manually engage it.

twsnagel · Post by **twsnagel** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 11:16 am

Can't believe I'm giving you advice, but here goes.

Disconnect the plug leading to the starter and make sure that your starter is getting 12V when you try to start.

If it is getting 12V then your starter is likely fried. If it's not getting 12V then your problem is "upstream".

Post by **noiseguy** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 11:21 am

Backlight's out? I think you need to check resistance across your ground wires to frame. Read up on Ferchja's posts on techniques for this here.

burnt_toast · Post by **burnt_toast** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 6:11 pm

ok had some time to check it out today.

cleaned up some connections and a bit later noticed that my backlight came on. turn signals blinked too. Checked starter connection for charge, and it had it.. luckily I plugged it back together, and tried the starter, and it spun! It spun quite lively too.

But just as I ran over to get some starting fluid, I came back and my backlight was off again and it just didn't come back on...

So now I know my starter is ok, and connection leading to starter is ok. Both relays are working as well. Any other ideas?