Hi, I posted in the tech section but not much help there except for one advice. I figured I try this section to see if there's more thoughts. The cars is idling in the driveway and suddenly dies. I have no electrical power at all. I come back down to check on it and the electrical is back.
The second time it happened was last weekend. Cars in the driveway and I'm about to back out of the driveway and it dies. Again no electrical power. A few minutes later the electrical is back and I start the car up and drive it for 45 minute with no problem.
I changed the battery quick disconnect since the first time it quit, it was kind of broken. So it did it the second time. The battery cables are new and the started is new too. Some one mentioned that a couple of battery cells could be dead. Car cranks good. Any kind of thoughts or ideas would help. Thanks, Tony

 

Sounds like a classic example of heat. Something getting hot, heating up and losing contact. When your actually driving it, there might be enough air circulation under the hood to keep the contact intact. You have no power?? to what? And where and how are you checking it? You come back and the power is back? Sure sounds like a thermal expansion issue to me. Check the ground connection to the engine. Check the wires to the coil. Experiment, try to force the issue, in order to narrow it down.

M2C steve

P S............ YOU ARE COMING TO SOLVANG WITH US, RIGHT??????

 

He says all electric is dead when it happens, curious how a heat issue would do that and then it cool and come back,
I would start looking for a poor wiring connection somewhere,
Odd that it just comes back to life when it feels like it,
To kill everything it would need to be a main feed from the battery issue.

 

Thanks for your input and ideas. I'll have to put the vette up on stands to check the wiring to the starter, ground straps etc. I won't be able to make it to Solvang. Wife is not well and trying to remodel the bathroom. At lease I was able to make the first trip. Have fun.

 

I had this EXACT Problem on My 69 Chevelle, turned out to be the starter / solinoid / it was heating up. When the car cooled off it started / when too hot.............lost all power !

Give it a try............

 

You say the starter is "new", but is it new, or just rebuilt? How about the solenoid, is it new or rebuilt? It wouldn't be the first time that a rebuilt part was defective.

Do you have a heat shield on the starter? Both big block and small block 69 Corvettes, originally came with a solenoid heat shield, to help prevent this kind of problem.

I'd be looking first at the starter/solenoid, as the source of the problem.

 

I have heard too much of hot starting problems but my car isn't wired 100% factory any longer,
so on mine the large battery lead at the starter is a junction and other things still get power, both my starter and solinoid could be dead but other things would still work...
In this case he says it's running and he losees ALL electric,
I'm curious, wired from the factory a car can loose 100% of electric from a bad solinoid?

 

I had a '64 Chevy and I once lost all electrical power at night while doing 60 + MPH. Lights, dash lights, engine, everything lost electic power. That turned out to be a short in the voltage regulator. It had a separate voltage regulator. It was NOT in the alternator.

 

Wow, thanks for all the different ideas. The starter is not rebuilt but new and it the small hi toque one. I know what you mean about the starter getting too hot an it won't crank. But the motor is not running more than 5 mins. I have to admit, when I say all the electrical is out, I'm basing it on interior light not on and no ignition and light on the dash is not on. Didn't check to see if the headlights and other things were working. This would still mean all electrical is not working right?

 

If a wire (any wire) is supplying voltage and is lose, that lose connection creates a very high resistance, resulting in heat build up. The more current that is being drawn through the wire, the more the heat will build up and possibly break the connection.
Your saying that "nothing electrical" works for a period of time and then all of a sudden everything does work? .......... I'm still thinking it's a bad connection, or a bad component getting hot.
Case-in-point; I had a Mazak lathe that would keep shutting down, 15/20 minutes after powering up. turns out it was a NO contactor coil that had a bad winding. When the coil got hot it would "open" the circuit and shut the machine down. Go have a cup of coffee, come back, and it would power up every time, 15/20 minutes later it shut down.

 

If I am not mistaken the Regulator on that year and all was the junction for all the electric ( except the large starter battery lead ) so yes, makes sense in your case a bad reg killed everything....

Get it to do it again, see if the headlights horn, are dead too....my guess is everything isn't dead.

 

OK. First off, you said that "THE ENGINE IS IDLING" and it quits. This doesn't have a thing to do with the starter. Yes, if the solenoid gets hot, then it would keep it from starting the car. But your car is starting. So it sounds to me like the starter is doing it's job of starting the car, right?............ If the car is running and it quits, I would start checking the ground wires all around the car. Clean them off good and the areas that they make contact with so you have a good ground.......... You could also have a clogged fuel line/filter. When the car shuts off, the clog/dirt is releasing. Then when you start it back up it could start collecting again and cut off your gas supply..........Is the car (alternator) charging? You need to start it up, put a voltmeter across the battery and wait to see what happens when it shuts off. If it shuts off, look and see if you still have power across the battery terminals. You also need to see if the battery is being charged up when the engine is running. It should read (about) 13.8 to 14.2. Do you have water in the battery? Are the battery terminals clean? You need to start with the simple things first. It could be something worse like a bad body plug. I'd check these things first. Then get back to us...... And by the way, what do you mean, "It has no power"? Do you mean there is no voltage across the battery? Or it just won't crank? You need to be more explicit on that.

 

2nd this^^^^^^

 

Thanks guy for the many ideas. Now I have something to go on. Will let you know what I find, if I find it. Thanks, Tony

 

on my 68 I had this hapen twice. Once was the ignition wires behind the key tumbler, my aggresive cam shook um loose. the second time it turned out to be a grounding issue - my negative cable had come loose on the connector. Could it be a ground in your case?