My Festiva is losing power

[mdswsu]

My 1989 Ford Festiva (Carb) is losing power. I am driving on the freeway and it lost power when I turned off the car and tried to turn it back on. The battery is 465CCA (Mine)/525CCA (Brand New) and tested Good. The alternator is pumping out 14volts to the battery so that is good also. I Drove on the freeway last night and the car's lights and interior lights were all dimming. The Heater/Cooler wouldn't turn on when I tried to power it on also (Never noticed that before). But somedays the car will work just fine. Today I drove and it drove "Normal", but sometimes it loses power. Can anyone help? Thanks

[wybnrml]

Try replacing the Fusable links like in this thread http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/sh...=fusable+links My head lights would go out then I replaced the Fusable links and it no longer does it.

[NovaSS]

check the battery ground lead on both ends.

[GenevaDirt]

My 1989 Ford Festiva (Carb) is losing power. I am driving on the freeway and it lost power when I turned off the car and tried to turn it back on. The battery is 465CCA (Mine)/525CCA (Brand New) and tested Good. The alternator is pumping out 14volts to the battery so that is good also. I Drove on the freeway last night and the car's lights and interior lights were all dimming. The Heater/Cooler wouldn't turn on when I tried to power it on also (Never noticed that before). But somedays the car will work just fine. Today I drove and it drove "Normal", but sometimes it loses power. Can anyone help? Thanks

alternator is dieing ... and battery is possibly dieing too.

[hotfordcat]

If the alternator is putting out a steady 14 volts, either the regulator is bad, the battery is dying, or the fusable link is bad. May also be corroded battery cables as addressed above.

[batstiva]

My 1989 Ford Festiva (Carb) is losing power. I am driving on the freeway and it lost power when I turned off the car and tried to turn it back on. The battery is 465CCA (Mine)/525CCA (Brand New) and tested Good. The alternator is pumping out 14volts to the battery so that is good also. I Drove on the freeway last night and the car's lights and interior lights were all dimming. The Heater/Cooler wouldn't turn on when I tried to power it on also (Never noticed that before). But somedays the car will work just fine. Today I drove and it drove "Normal", but sometimes it loses power. Can anyone help? Thanks

Dumb questions coming, so be prepared. :p
How long has it been (if you know) since the plugs, wires, button, cap, etc. were changed? In other words, is it time for a tune up? You lost power when you turned it off. Did it restart? Right away, or did it need some cool down time? Sudden loss of power, or gradual draw down?

[FestYboy]

ok, ok hold on here. first get yourself a digital multi-meter (thery're cheap, and worth every penny). then start your car. check the votage at idle and off idle (should be close to the same). then turn on EVERYTHING (lights, blower, radio, defrost if you have it, wipers on low, etc.) check voltage again... should not be below 13.4 volts. if it is, check again off idle and notice any change (if voltage goes up to above 13.6, then you're in good shape provided the voltage never drops below 12.8 )

[FestYboy]

if everything is electrically in good shape, and you still lack power at highway speeds, get a new coil (accell super coil).

[festivabot]

Hey. I am currently having the same problem with my car. I took it up to autozone and had them test the battery and the alternator and both read good.

So did you figure out what was wrong with your festiva?

[FestYboy]

Festivabot, did you test the alt in car as discribed above? AZ doesn;t use this protical and their method won't show if the alt dies under load.

[scitzz]

Ahem.

How about a loose alternator belt? This is one thing that can be revealed by testing it Festyboys way...

[1988festivazoom]

My festy had a bad ground (chassi to engine) and I was having sparatic crappy running, the engine /trans found its own ground via the clutch cable and welded its self internally, next time I pushed the clutch in it snapped the cable..... not a good time!