Electrical gremlins

[OPELFIEND]

Going down the road in the 70 GT, no problems. All of sudden, car stalls. Pull over, the car will start for a split second, then stop. Continue messing with it, find that if I hold the key in the start position, the car will run. As it stalled, the ammeter guage was in the positive area, however the light was coming on. Eventually, it all began to work again and I made it home. Also, I had posted that my blower fan quit working a few days ago, but after this, it began working again! How is the blower fan affected by all of this? Would it be a short in the ignition switch? As of now, the car will start right up and run with no problems, but I am afraid to drive it. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

[GTJIM]

Typically there are three main electrical 'faults' with GTs:

1) Deteriorated insulation on any and often ALL of the original wire

2) Bad grounding due to removal of 'earth' wiring over the years and/or corrosion where they attach to the body

3) The switch controlled by the ignition key fails due to wear and abuse by overloading.

They are over 30 years old ....... so expecting them to work like new ones is a little hopeful!

Faults must be tracked down and fixed - best done by the owner or someone with access to the actual GT. We can only make guesses at a distance.

[Turbo X]

you have a loose/corroded ground,and take all the connection off you fuss block and clean there as well, just because it looks connected doesn't mean it is, I found a lot of corrosion under the studs . take all electrical plugs pull them apart spray wd40 or what ever and connect them back..
once I did that cleaning to my GT I haven't had a problem, matter of fact my dash light are even brighter, also the ground wire to the battery and to the engine, just those two things alone can make the difference. Electicity has a mind of it's own and will find the least path of resistance.. good luck...

[PROPEL]

Your mileage may vary, but... when this situation happened to me, it turned out to be a sketchy fusible link to the voltage regulator (or maybe starter?) This was on a 1.1L car. I think the wire got wonky when the engine was hot or flexed enough from engine vibration. Replacing the wire solved the intermittent problem. Good luck!

[opelwasp]

Two other things that happened to me.

1. The voltage regulator crapped out. I fixed that by going to a GM 1 wire 94 Amp alternator. One of the best mods I ever did.

2. The ammeter took a crap. I just eliminated the ammeter. If I am getting 12 volts do I really care the amps? None of my new cars have 'em.

[RallyBob]

Originally Posted by opelwasp 2. The ammeter took a crap. I just eliminated the ammeter. If I am getting 12 volts do I really care the amps? None of my new cars have 'em.

Agreed. I never liked the idea of running a thick, high amperage cable inside the passenger compartment anyway! A voltmeter makes so much more sense. Especially considering the fact that the newest Opel GT is now 35 years old, and few people have replaced the old wiring other than on the headlights...

[gt crazy]

my car did the same thing and it was my ignition switch. DONT DRIVE YOU CAR ANYMORE! I'm 95% sure thats what it is. Clue number 1. If you jiggle it your car will turn off and one. Clue 2. Holding it somewhat forward when starting car and it runs.

YOU NEED TO TAKE OFF YOUR STEERING WHEELE AMMEDIATLY AND SEE IF THATS THE PROBLEM FOR YOUR PROTECTION! The wires could possible be fried and it can cause a fire then you will have bigger mess. My car did the same thing and it was my ignition switch and i had to get a whole differant one, and i put it on and the car never would die when driving

[73Manta72gt]

I put battery cut-off switch on both my GT's. I'm afraid the old wiring will burning the car and the house, so I just disconnect the battery when the cars are parked. I converted the clock to use a "C" battery and a wall clock quartz movement.