Update:
Roadtrip fiasco.
We took the 'Burb on a 620 mile trip to the Outer Banks, NC.
Hey, I drove it 1800 miles home from Arizona a few months ago (when I bought it) ...... it'll be FINE!
About 100 miles in on I-40 (up the mountain just 50 miles west of Asheville), the whole electrical system shut down. Yep, running 70-75 mph, at night, the head lights, ignition, EVERYTHING, shut the frick off!!!
Kicked it up in neutral and attempted a restart.... Nothing. Pulled over in the emergency lane and attempted a restart again.
This time I remembered I had to hit the alarm "unlock" button before it will crank. When I did, it started right up... Lights good. Good to go.
About a mile down the road, the dash alarm light starts flashing. It shuts off again after a minute or so of flashing. So, I hit "unlock" on the fob & it starts right back up and I'm on my way again.
Every 60 seconds, the dash alarm light flashes, this time I hit the "unlock" button BEFORE it shuts off. Good to go ..... For 60 more seconds. Then hit it again when it flashes and again and again... Etc.
Now I'm just before Asheville (exit 44) at the ******* Barrel parking lot and I shut the engine off, and arm/disarm the system several times hoping to figure something out ..... Hoping to Google a way to unhook or bypass the alarm which seems to be shutting everything off on me. .....
After 20 minutes of finding nothing helpful on google ..... It fires up with no other issues while we each take turns to go pee. No flashing dash alarm light, no shutting down. OK ..... We're off again !
Oh, ..... She's not real happy.....
No issues, stop about 1 am near Raleigh for a room & some rest.
Off at it the next morning..... Within an hour, or so, it shuts off again .... Even setting off the alarm in the process. WTF????
Google says to remove the battery terminals (both) & turn ign to run and attach terminals to re-set it. Worth a try.
So upon removal of batt terminals the alarm keeps kicking on and off. Noticing the underhood light flashing as well as contact is made/lost. (Doing all this with a multi-tool) ... I left my tool bag at home saying "any issues, we'll just use AAA" . lol .... My life, right?
Upon inspection of the terminals, they were a bit corroded/eroded. I used the fish scaler/file on the multi-tool to get some bare lead/metal showing .... and removed what seemed an excessive amount of anti-seize type gunk off the bolts/terminals.
DROPPED THE FRICKIN' MIDDLE TERMINAL SPACER DOWN INFRONT OF THE BATTERY ....WAY DOWN THERE.
UNREACHABLE!!!!!
After 30 minutes (in the hot sun) of failed attempts at reaching it with the LONG dipstick, she meekly suggests bending a hook in the dipstick with the multi-tool. That's just crazy talk right there. Ain't never gonna happen, babe.
Well........ It happened. It worked. It got bent back (not pretty).
Re-attached the terminals (ign in run position the whole time) ...... And all is well again.
Now, with the lights on, the A/C on high (both) .... Dash Volt meter stays near 13 - 13.5.
My original issue (and alarm issues) seemed to be a bad connection at the battery terminal. The terminals on the cable ends were somewhat eroded with actual holes ate through the flats around the bolt hole.
The added corrosion (hard black gunk) and anti-seize goo probably didn't help much either.
Oh, the starter really spins fast now!!!!
Cheap, off-brand Multi-tool to the rescue!!!!!
Enjoying my stay in OBX where 4wd is required to get to the rental beach house. No paved roads up here to these houses.
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