So, I took the Vette out today after installing a new Lokar throttle cable, and drove it down to the local burger joint for lunch. I come home and decide that I'm going to try to tune the carb up a little bit more than what it was, since it was idling at about 400 rpms and nearly dying on me at every stoplight.

Well, when I go to fire the car back up after a 15 min. drive there and back, the car kicks over once, and then immediately dies. I get no dash lights, no door buzzer when I open the door, nothing.

I didn't think it could be the battery, because it's an Optima Red Top that we bought in October of last year, and shouldn't have just died on me at random...

Turns out that the battery was in fact dead. I pulled it out, put it on a charger, and the battery started charging and holding a charge, no problem.

That led me to check the alternator. I pulled it off, took it to the local Kragen, which checked it out and found it putting out 14.1 volts, which was showing it was good...And that leaves me stuck there. I don't know what the next logical step to check for in the way of the electrical circuitry would be. What would cause a slow drain? Could having the doors open for 3 hours going in and out of the car have drained a fairly fresh battery enough to where it was completely dead? Shouldn't the alternator have charged it up a LITTLE bit on the drive out to get my burger?

Or am I just being paranoid with regards to the electrical and thinking I've got a grounding problem? I've found some bubba'd electrical wiring in the car already; the old alarm system wires have been cut, but I don't think that would cause an electrical drain...

 

That is the typical symptom for the battery connection. It probably just lost the connection at the terminal. When you moved it, you inavertently fixed the problem.

 

Where are you referring to, the wires that run into the battery box itself, or the positive lead from the alternator?

I haven't put the battery back into the car yet, so I don't know if that'll fix it...And when the battery goes back in, I'm putting in a battery shut off switch as well. Hopefully that'll stop the draining...

 

Mine was doing the same thing. I'd replace a battery, and a few months later it would be dead. I'd replace an alternator and a few months later it would be dead. I never did figure out what was causing it, but I replaced both the battery and the alternator at the same time and the problem has sinced disappeared.

The battery cut off is a good idea, it can never hurt to have.

 

The connection to the battery, either at the battery cable ends or at the starter, etc. are prone to deteriorate for various reasons. When you suddenly load it by starting, sometimes it will fail. It causes the exact symptoms you describe, except for the dead battery thing. If it did actually drain the battery you will have to reinstall it and then check for the drain.

 

Well, I wouldn't doubt that there's deterioration at the starter. The last time I was under the car I noticed that the bolt hole for the grounding strap had been cut at one end. I bought a replacement for it on Saturday, and was going to replace it, but got kinda lazy after spending 3 hours under the dash trying to figure out how to get the old accelerator cable out of the car and get the new Lokar cable in.

We've also been contemplating a new starter as well, and maybe this is the time to just replace it.