agd61

Any help would be appreciated. My all stock 61 runs great. Occasionally it will shut off while idling, driving, or it may just not start. Usually when it does not start, there is nothing, just as if the battery was disconnected-no gauge movement, lights- nothing. Then wait or try a few times again and it will start fine. It may run flawlessley for miles, but then shut down or fail to start again. No rhyme or reason to this. It never runs poorly-it just runs good, or not at all. The wiring is about 15 years old and 17,000 mi.

62fuelie

I would suspect possible poor connection or pre-failure of the fuel solenoid valve (anti-siphon valve). When it won't start at all, do you hear the solenoid click when you turn the ignition on?

jerrybramlett

Agd -

I tried to send my repair ideas to the e-mail address listed in your profile, tgd2k@yahoo.com. My message was returned as undeliverable because this account has been disabled or discontinued.

Mark Lovejoy

It sounds electrical. Check battery terminals, cables, connection at the starter and ground to the bell housing. You should have a ground strap from the bell housing to the frame too (I know the General did not include one, but you need it).

Ok the EE will get off the soapbox.

62fuelie

Obviously I missed the part of your post referencing the entire electrical system shutting down. The battery is obvious. Some not so obvious areas to check:

Power feeds from the bottom terminal of the voltage regulator to the ammeter. If you have voltage there, check at the ammeter. If you have it at the ammeter, it goes from there to the ignition switch. From there, voltage is distributed to various places and I'm guessing a break in the pipe would not shut down everything.

A few weeks ago, I tried to start my 62 and got nothing, sort of as you describe. THe car had run fine on the previous outing. For some reason, I decided to wiggle the wires under the dash at the switch. After that it started normally and again everything worked. I need to get into the terminals and see where the specific bad connection is, but have not had an opportunity yet. Could possibly even be in the switch itself, but I suspect the connections at one of the female terminals is loose.
Hope this is helpful.

agd61

No no clicking at the solinoid. This has been going on some time. Now that you mention it early on it did crank but did not start. Maybe even a combination of problems. The battery checks out good, ign. switch is new as it the regulator. I will continue to check the conections and use all your recomendations. Thanks all for the advice, anymore suggestions -I will continue to try.
My email has changed to tgd61@hotmail.com.
Thanks!

62fuelie

If you can catch the car in the "failed" condition, use a 12V test light to follow the power from the battery on, checking each juncture along the way. When you get to a point in the circuit that is dead, trace back to find the problem. Keep in mind that even with new components like the regulator and switch, a. the component can be bad, or b. the connection to the component can be loose/corroded. I have found several instances on old cars where the wire was loose at the female terminal connector inside a plastic connector where it was not readily apparent. I had to remove the wire and terminal to repair, which can sometimes be a pain. Most problems will be found at one end of a wire or the other. Rarely is the problem actually inside the wiring harness unless something has really overheated.

agd61

Well it hasn't stalled long enough to check the wiring, but I will hope for a no start in the garage and then I can break out the meter and check connections.
Thanks to all that responded.

Tony :chevy

62fuelie

I guess one really relevant question here is, once the car looses electrical power, what brings it back? Do you jiggle something? Does it sit long enough for something to cool off? Does it die at idle only, or will it also die at speeds above idle? Does ambient temperature of lenght of operation have any pattern? If it appears heat related, it could be something as simple as a bad battery or connection that heats up.

agd61

62 fuelie, It stalls at idle as well as driving. Short distance from the house
(1 block) to anywhere from 25 miles all warmed up. I don't do anything to make it start. Sometimes it will fire right back up, sometimes it may need to sit. Temperture seems not to be a factor.
My neighbor says it is going through menopause...being 40 and all.

62fuelie

As best you can tell, do you loose complete electrical power every time this happens, or is it only ignition? This is a very wierd sounding malady. May be menopause. Sounds logical. :confused:

62fuelie

When you say that you don't do anything to make it start, it makes me very suspicious of the ignition switch and the wiring connections to the switch. The switch is one place you can loose all electrical power, and the motion of turning the key might be sufficient to make a broken contact. Whatever is loosing contact is probably not fixing itself, if it is definately not temperature related. I would remove the switch and inspect all the connections very carefully. I have had one of those switches apart several decades ago, and I don't remember if they can be disassembled and put back together without damaging them. You could test the internal connections with an ohmmeter and see if you have any high resistance or if wiggling anything makes the meter jump. I hate to suggest replacing parts for the sake of troubleshooting, but the ignition switch is the one place I can think of that could cause the problems you describe and seemingly "repair" itself.

agd61

Thanks again 62 fuelie and all others that replied. But the saga is not over. last Wednesday I started the car it idled for about 1 minute, and stalled. It seemed to stall due to being cold not like it shut off. I turned the key and nothing but a quick short click of the solinoid. Then absolutely nothing. Not a click, start, no lights, turn sig. brake lights, radio, absolutely dead. I figure this is my chance to find where the power loss is. I checked the batt. got 12.5v; the wire from the regulator to the amp gauge got 12v+; the 2nd term. of the amp guage, got 12v+; the regulator term. got 12v+. the ign. switch got 12v+; horn relay 12v+. this checking went on for about 1-1/2 hours and checking lights, turning ign. switch and tail lights etc. still nothing. I had to leave for the weekend and returned to continue checking circuts. The car was untouched for the 5 days I was gone. I turned the key and the car fired right up. It now runs perfect again. The ignition switch is 4 years old, of course that doesn't mean it is good, but I do have power at the terminals. :crazy:

mrg

I once had the red hot wire that feeds into the back of the ignition switch plastic connector on my '64 work itself into an "on/off" kind of state .. This was veerrry disconcerting driving in traffic .. ! .. I found the "off" condition by moving suspect wires and connectors around a bit until the engine stalled .. It seems the red ignition wire was a bit short in length and over time worked itself out just enough from the pin connector to cause the problem, at least intermittently ..
mrg

62fuelie

I suspect it is something such as the condition experienced by mrg, or possibly a fault in the switch itself. Very frustrating to try to find. Having a similar problem with the a/c system on my daughter's car right now. If you wiggle everything enough, eventually it will run for a few days. I think it is a faulty relay, but hard to tell for sure.

agd61

Would a faulty ign. switch cause loss of power to the whole car?? Tail lights, horn, headlights etc.?? I will continue the quest! I will let all know once it is diagnosed.

mrg

It's possible the battery cable ends where they connect at ground and starter solenoid connection points might have some unseen corrosion between terminal end and nut, maybe allowing an intermittent condition to kinda fester . .. ? .. A little cleaning and wire brush action couldn't hurt .. :smash:

Matt Gruber

#1 problem(dead)not a bad ignition switch.#2 may be switch/circuit
When any car goes dead the very first thing i do is short a screwdriver across the heavy+ to the small solinoid terminal. This tells a lot!(try it first when car is OK)

Places i would check, some already mentioned:
1. battery, try another, clean terminals.
2. smaller wire coming off + battery, cut off end, re-do direct to terminal; new terminal.
3. replace - battery to ground wire, clean frame, bolt.
4. problem #2 expected after #1 fixed, need #1 fixed first.

hint: if you try to check volts, pull out the headlight switch to put load on. :cheers:





[Modified by drives61, 11:22 AM 5/4/2002]

Matt Gruber

so is it fixed?

agd61

drives 61, I am in process of using your advice. I am replacing both battery cables, not corroded though, the car is real nice and well maintained, or at least up to this point I thought it was, anyway, I also added a ground strap from the starter to the frame, and am cleaning all ground connections.
I recently built a 52 Chevy street rod from the ground up, mechanical and electrical and all. No problems. But this one is driving me crazy! I love a challange but this one is really messin' with me.
Thanks for the advice, I will keep you posted and once diagnosed it may help someone else down the road... :crazy: