so i recently bought a 78 vette and had it shipped here from ohio. i went to pick it up at the drop off point and it wouldnt start. however we ended up jumping it and after a little bit of time we got it on the road after letting it charge for a whilhe and all we stopped for gas but then couldnt get it started again so we jumped it once more. after driving for about another hour we got it home. last night i went to move it into the garage after moving the other cars out of the way and it wouldnt start again but all the lights came on and the radio started playing. well since i didnt want to jump it just to move it a few feet i just rolled down the window and pushed it forward but then the window wouldnt go back up (short on power?). i found out that the advanced auto parts up the road would do a full electrical system check for free so i tried to start her once more today to see if i'd get lucky and instead of starting it made a pretty bad sounding noise like a bang or something. to be honest i couldnt describe it cause i wasnt listening close for anything i just knew it didnt sound normal at all. so now i am just going to take the battery to the place and see what they say about that but i would really like any help you all might have. i know nothing at all about cars, i could tell you way more about a plane than how anything in a car works so the more painstaking detail and small words you use for me the better.

 

Put in a new battery. The old one probably has set a lot and will not hold a charge or have any cranking amps. The new battery will probably fix it

 

Then immediately take it to advanced to get the alternator tested if you cannot test it yourself. BTW, if the alternator is original, don't turn it in as a core if it does prove faulty. I am not familiar with '78, but original number components on my '70 are very expensive.

Also, since you are not really confident with your car knowledge, get a membership to AAA or similar. Anything can go wrong at anytime with these old cars.

And don't worry, there is a lot of great help on this site that you can tap into at anytime.

 

[QUOTE= Anything can go wrong at anytime with these old cars.

[/QUOTE]


and Murphy's law says it will go wrong at the worst possible time.

 

And we've all been there

 

... Yeah, It's fun having a block heater fall out while flying down the freeway.... dumped all my coolant all over the corvette behind me... This car keeps me so humble...

To the battery problem, I have a similar problem on my truck, and cleaning the battery terminals solves the problem. Betcha your battery is shot though, like the other guys mentioned.

 

I think I would have to agree. Sounds to me like battery cable issue of some sort (corrosion,loose), or tired battery since it seems to run off alternator w/o any troubles once running

 

IMO, I wouldn't replace anything until you get it checked. The guy you bought it from may have just replaced the battery and other parts trying to fix the problem and gave up. Get each part checked and replace as necessary. As stated above, first check the cables and make sure there are no signs of corrosion at the battery or anywhere on the cables.