Well here's what happened. Dropped my newly rebuilt 383 in two months ago, got her broke in with nearly 1500 miles now and haven't had one problem. So last weekend I take a drive 50 miles away, stop at an Arbys and had a yummy Samich. Go to leave and the cars dead, I mean DEAD. No interior lights no starter, nothing. I ended up having it towed on a flatbed back to town for $275 (8:00 p.m. Sunday night).

Next morning I open the drivers door and the interior lights come on. Car starts right up like nothings wrong. I drive it into my shop, shut it off, and get underneath to poke around the wiring at the starter. Everything seems in order. Now cars dead again.

Has anyone had this problem?? How should I trouble shoot this for a fix that puts my mind at ease for the next trip??

Thanks!

 

[QUOTE=madam;1588492602]Well here's what happened. Dropped my newly rebuilt 383 in two months ago, got her broke in with nearly 1500 miles now and haven't had one problem. So last weekend I take a drive 50 miles away, stop at an Arbys and had a yummy Samich. Go to leave and the cars dead, I mean DEAD. No interior lights no starter, nothing. I ended up having it towed on a flatbed back to town for $275 (8:00 p.m. Sunday night).

Next morning I open the drivers door and the interior lights come on. Car starts right up like nothings wrong. I drive it into my shop, shut it off, and get underneath to poke around the wiring at the starter. Everything seems in order. Now cars dead again.

Has anyone had this problem?? How should I trouble shoot this for a fix that puts my mind at ease for the next trip??

When it happened on my '75 years ago it was a wire located between the rear of the engine and firewall that shorted out.

 

Def. elec problem. Grounded / shorted / BROKEN wire.
Start at the batt.
I had a wire to the opening flap on my camaro hood intake flap
was grounding and left me parked with HOT PATTY
needing to get home. Open the hood, car started. Disconnected the wire to that flap,
and went home with HOT PATTY.

 

Mine was the ground from the electronic distributor... pushed in and wiggled, (the wire)... Got a better terminal on and no issues in a year,...

 

twas the secret "Tow Truck Driver" fix we have all seen at some point. At least yours happened again right away, so you don't sit for weeks or months wondering when it will bite again.

Battery positive usually goes to the starter BIG terminal, and from there another wire goes up to feed everything else. Many cars also have a fuse able link in those feed wires ( and you can't "see" them if they go bad"). I would wiggle test the fusable links first, see if that helps, other than that, I would be getting a test light and tracking the power feeds.

 

Is your engine block to chassis ground cable connected?

 

My veedub trike was doing this annoying little trick,
I rewired it myself so I was extra pissy about it,
Turned out the ground cable wasn't tight, it felt tight but the wire in the clamp wasn't....fixed it right, no more issues...

 

About the only thing that would cause you to loose all electrics are the battery terminals themselves. Completely remove both, clean well, and retighten them. That would be my guess since you did an engine swap and likely had one or both disconnected. My boat has done that to me a few times and has always ended up being the ground clamp on the battery.

 

Was the car in PARK

 

my dead battery was the center glove box . some one here i think (dave) said check the glovebox lid not closed so the light is on , so i put a brick on the lid and no dead battery.... well kiss my butt. i now drive with a brick

 

When diagnosing I have to remember KISS (Keep it simple stupid) else I jump to conclusions and fix something that doesn't need fixed.
Had the problem you described happen on Daily Driver.. turned out to be a loose battery connector (side mount post) it would work just fine then nothing, then work again etc. Next check to see if you have a fusible link that had blown then BUBBA fixed it with electrical tape. Just keep diagnosing up the line from there.

 

I had a similar problem back in the mid 1980s on my 1972 El Camino. Similar but not the same. here is what my problem was after installing the new L82 after replacing my blown L48 the dude that helped me forgot to mount the positive wire with the Fuseable link to the starter back in the bracket that held the wire. I would be driving down the road at highway speeds and hit a bump then the wire would hit the exhaust pipe. Eventually melted it and would stall the car out without a clue to why it was happening. I was living in GA and 150 miles from home when it started to happen. Pull over the car cooled down wire moved away from the exhaust pipe and start again. Drive another 25 or more miles car would just die again.



I lost everything all power when it happened no lights no power could not start the car until it cooled and wired fell away. As long as the fuseable link wire was hitting my exhaust system I had nothing. Again Huge Problem and glad I did not have to have it towed home but about every once in awhile would have to sit on the side of the road and limped it home. Gave the dude a ration of crap for this problem and he was with me in another car while it was happening. Even more happy the Positive wire did not cause my battery to blow up when it was grounded out. Once the key was turned off the power quit hitting the wire and sitting than waiting saved me on this one.



Ended up replacing the Fuseable Link wire to the starter, mounting it properly and never had a problem again. Huge burn in the wire glad I did not have it towed this far away from home.

Not saying it is your problem but something to look at.