Copacetic

The corvette in question in a 1980 350. I park the car one day and the next day i try to start it and I get nothing. No interior lights no clicking just nothing. I tried to jump it and nothing. Im not quite sure what is going on with this.

Brandywine

Start with this. Remove the battery and take it to get tested. Before you put the battery back in, or a new one back in, get the alternator checked to make sure it's functioning properly.

You could have many things causing this problem. A short, a bad alternator, a bad battery, etc. Good luck.

Goody

How old is the battery?

Check the grounding location from the battery to the chassis. If that cable is original then I would recommend you replace it.

Have the alternator checked for proper output.

If the above items check out good then you likely have an open circuit someplace that is grounded out sucking all the juice from the system. May be a relay or wire that needs attention.

Copacetic

The battery is less than a year old. But ill go get that and my alternator checked. The ground wire is original. I have a feeling its an open circuit or something like that, still not sure though.

Mike Ward

If you tried jumping it and got nothing, it's not your alternator or battery. Check your battery cables. Both ends.

redstingray74

Also Especially check Ground cable link from engine to frame .
usually near Pass side Motor mount ; Must be tight clean and Good cable .

Copacetic

Alright so I went to see what I could figure out and I took a look at my starter solenoid. One of the wires looks like it was cut!! It didn't look like a break but a clean cut! So i pig tailed the ends together and then went to go check it the car would turn on. everything turned back on and this made me happy. So I go to crank it and all that I hear is a buzzing sound that sounds like its coming from around the engine. Does anybody know what this can be? Do you think the battery isnt putting out enough power?

ED79

Good job on the wire connection, but I would be checking all my ground connections to eliminate that.

Copacetic

So now that Ive connected that wire running to the starter solenoid it only starts if I jump it with another car. Ive left it running for a while and even drove around for a while. But still the voltmeter stays in the red. To me it sounds like either a bad alternator or a bad battery, but do you guys think it can be anything else? This problem only showed up when i found the broken wire.

72LS1Vette

By stays in the red do you mean the battery is not charging when the car is running? If you put a voltmeter on the battery when the car is running you should see 13+ volts. If it is less than that your alternator is suspect of maybe your belt is loose.



Rick B.

Copacetic

Yeah i drove it around quite a bit and let it run for a good 10 minutes and it didn't charge at all. Ill run and get a voltmeter later and check the battery though.