I accidentally connected a battery Charger.

DOA_1970

MEMBER
12 POSTS

I believe that it is time to realize my losses(money & time) and abandon this car to the scrap yard. I don't want to but unless I'm way off base it may be time.
Here is what's happening:
After your last suggestion on trouble shotting the radiator fan & A/C compressor after replacing the burned up fuel pump:
I went to start the car and the Brand New fuel pump was NOT running!
Used the original fuel pump to check to make sure I was still getting voltage to the pump(climbed under the car and plugged in old pump while someone cranked the car) Old fuel pump ran.
Ordered the 3rd pump. I installed it Saturday. The car started immediately! And seemed to run fine. I did NOT run it long as I knew that the radiator fan was not running. I tried to get the newly REMOVED pump to run by powering it directly to the battery. I did nothing! No noise, It didn't try to run. I didn't tap it since I was returning it for credit and I had one installed that was working.
While under the hood contemplated your suggested diagnostics, I happened to check the radiator. It was a little bit down(which concerned me) but I thought maybe the system had not gotten completely filled after having the heater coil and evaporator coil replaced last year before burning up the fuel pump.
Went to start the car about the third time Saturday and it struggled while turning over(almost like a weak battery: Battery is Brand NEW). It never struggled to turn over or start before. It finally started. I just ran it a few minutes.
Worried now, I checked the oil dip stick and the level was Over full and thin.
I am guessing that the head gasket (or worse) is blown!
At this point I quit messing with the car, other than I did check for voltage with a test light at the AC fuse in the fuse panel; the gray wires feed both the AC compressor Relay and Fan relay. There was Voltage at each place.
Sunday, I did NOT touch the car.
Monday night I tried to start it and I Swear to you could NOT hear the 3rd fuel pump run! It struggled to crank!
I have at least $1200 into this and scrap is probably $300. Not to mention disappointing my teen daughter and embarrassment from my Ex Wife.
Time to Punt?
THanks,
PS Feel free to laugh

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Tuesday, June 18th, 2013 AT 7:10 AM

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,742 POSTS

I'm not laughing because these were popular cars. I can offer one suggestion on the repeat pump failures. If you see a small spark when you connect the wires directly to a battery, that means the motor is okay and the impeller is locked up. That was a common problem years ago. By the fourth or fifth aftermarket pump people would get frustrated and buy one from the dealer and have no more problems. That wasn't the actual solution, in fact, NAPA pumps come right from the same manufacturer that sells them to Chrysler.

The cause was microscopic debris in the tank that collected in the pumping chamber and locked up the impeller. The same thing happened to each new pump until all that debris was collected. The real fix was to drain the tank and have it steam-cleaned at a radiator repair shop.

If there is no spark when you connect the pump, that points to a defect in manufacturing and you may have better luck with a different brand.

Before you give up completely on the car, consider having it repaired at a community college with an Automotive program. We were always looking for live cars to give the kids real-world experience. There were about a dozen people in our community who would sit on a broken car until it fit what we were teaching because they knew the value it would have for us. We got parts at a real good discount, then marked them up ten percent to form a "breakage" fund in case we damaged something, and we charged ten dollars per hour for what the job was supposed to take. The trade-off is the car would only have work done that fit what we were teaching, otherwise we would be taking work away from the employers that might hire our graduates, and those topics might only be taught once per year. It can also take weeks to get the car back because they may only get to work on it a couple of hours per day. The students were very conscientious and well-supervised.

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Tuesday, June 18th, 2013 AT 11:32 AM