Removed the starter to enable removing the ignition wire shields so the wires and plugs could be replaced. Reinstalled the starter and the car would not start. Couldn't figure out what was wrong so had a new starter and installed it. Worked perfectly. Decided to go for a ride and stopped on a back road for some pictures. Ended up on a tow truck as the car would not start:

In both instances you say the car would not START.
But would the motor CRANK aka Spin Over?

The starter would not spin. When I tried to start the car the battery light would dim and the voltage drop. The starter would not make any noise, not even a click. It acted like the starter was heat soaked, which has happened to me on other corvettes. The starter is not heat soaked as the mechanic tried to start it when it was cold and it still does the same thing. The old starter did the same thing in my garage after I reinstalled it and it was cold. The shop hasn't had a chance to look at yet.

FWIW, had an 80 Trans Am, same symptom's, Bad Ground to Block.............
Hope its that simple for You.

Have A Great Day,

Bill

good place to start block-to-chassis ground strap … also battery negative terminal-to-chassis ground.

X3, sounds likely to be a bad connection somewhere in the battery to starter circuit. So battery positive terminal, battery cable to starter, engine to chassis ground, or negative battery terminal to chassis ground.

How could this have happened this week?It's feb. There aren't any leaves on the trees around here,(L.I.N.Y.) you have super trees up there?

I’ll betcha that’s Florida

For anyone interested, the no starting was because of a bad neutral safety switch. I have not gotten the car back yet, as the repair shop is locating the part.

Had the same thing happen. The Ground cable to the frame was cooked/broke inside the insulation. I would recommend just replacing that and cable to the block anyways.

FWIW I just wanted to say...
It sucks when you have to have a tow in these cars.

Glad you found the issue.

I had a similar problem that I chased for months. I have a friend who knows wiring diagnoses. He tracked it down to a loose and deteriorated connector at the neutral safety switch. What a demon to find?

Craig

I have a 76.

Had the exact same problem and chased it for months. After my first tow ride I replaced the ignition switch behind the dash on top of steering column and the neutral safety switch in shifter console. I'm thinking that must have fixed the problem then boom it happened again. Called the tow truck again and after getting home turned the key and fired right up ( S#$T ).

Here's what I finally found:

After all that happened above and during my third no start episode at home I started looking around in the engine bay again thinking I am obviously missing something.

Now, in the main wire harness running near the top of the firewall from left to right there is heavy gauge wire splitting out of the harness above and behind the RH valve cover. It runs down a few inches to a locking connector then on downward to one of the starter solenoid terminals. I confirmed that connector was closed and locked ( as I had before ) but this time I happened to notice on the lower wire the crimp of the spade connector onto the wire insulation ( which is normally inside of the locking connector ) was just exposed outside the bottom of the locking connector ( hardly noticeable ). Instead of squeezing the locking connector together ( as I had before many times ) I grabbed onto the wires themselves and pushed them into the locking connector. The lower wire slid inward about a quarter inch then stopped. BINGO !!!!!!!

I immediately turned the key and fired right up. Talk about a hidden needle in a haystack. Went back to the connector, took it apart, cleaned it and with some needle nose pliers slightly deformed the male half of the spade to generate a friction fit into the female half. The fit had become loose enough that it could fall apart inside of the locking weather connector that encases it.

I haven't had a problem since and hope others can benefit from my journey.

I hope you get things sorted out. Today was a great day to go for a ride, sorry yours was cut short.

We ALL (late model C-3's) should have a set of neutral 'safety' (HA!) switch jumpers in the car and a 1.2.3. on how to do it.

Unka hal

Good time to have the shop install a "KILL" switch.

Craig