1993 del sol 1.6 with 260k on the clock. she's a beater but i want to keep beating as long as i can!! my job isn't far from my house and my other half drives the good car!

As title says, my AC pump froze up as i was stopping home to feed my dog before i left for work. I Didn't notice anything other than a faint electrical odor a few blocks from home and as i was wondering if it was the car and not something outside I saw the white smoke under the hood as i parked!
I poured water on the pump so it wouldn't sit and smolder, fed my dog and grabbed my motorcycle as i was now late leaving for work!

I had time today to actually look and see what was going on and to cut the belt off as the AC hasn't worked for some time anyhow. figured i would be good to go!
After i cut the belt i went to start the car and guess what? it lights up, fuel pump primes but all i get is the dreaded single click and power drain as i try to start.

oddly, as the radio cuts out for a moment while starting (that is normal) the dash brake light comes on...never noticed that before but i wasn't looking either.

Anyway, my question is if there is a ground wire or connections on that side of the engine (pulley side) that might short and cause a no crank situation? wiring related to the AC that could have cooked?

Next day off i'll be poking around looking for burnt fuses, damaged wiring, tapping the starter and all that not so fun to do in Florida in August stuff!

thanks for any input!

 

You should have 3 main grounds in the engine bay. However, they can't short, just become opens and no longer ground. One is from the radiator support up front to usually the power steering bracket even though I've seen some ppl put it to the valve cover.

The other is on the transmission bracket and goes to the frame rail and the last one is the G101 ground on the thermostat.

AC compressor should have a plug to it but it would be the only plug in that area. This is assuming a D16Z6 single jingle OBD1 motor in your del sol. OBD2 cars had a crank fluctuation sensor relatively close to the AC compressor area.

I would also check to see if your starter is okay. It could be seized and would act as you mentioned of click but no crank and still take a large draw on the battery.

I also don't know just how liberal you were with the water as the alternator is on that side of the motor but firewall side while the compressor is radiator side. That would be the only other electrical plug remotely low enough. The rest is on the back of the block, oil pressure sending unit and then the intake manifold.

 

Thank you very much for the reply!

I was careful to pour water only on the AC housing!
I found the three main grounds online but didn't get to checking them as i decided to jump from another vehicle, even though my jump box is rated for a diesel truck!
sure enough, kicked right over. replaced the battery today. checked the alternator with a meter and it's a bit low (it was a junkyard alternator) at about 13.9V at the battery.

the no start was the battery, which i had been jumping with the jump box pretty frequently. it just happened that it completely failed at the same time as AC pump dying.

I will probably clean up the grounds anyway to see if that alternator charge number will go up. the car only goes about 7 miles to work, then back. part of that is highway at 90mph (I-95) and i try to let it rev a bit in a lower gear to help charging. It really doesn't go much further than that very often. i'm thinking the battery isn't getting a complete and proper charge.

just wanted to give a follow up, there is nothing worse than a problem thread where you never hear from the OP again!