The other day, I went out and start my 82CE to warm it up before I went to work. Started up fine. I went inside while it was warming up and I came back out to find the car stopped running.

I turned the key and there was nothing. No courtesy lights, won't turn over, absolutely nothing.

Is there a fuse that shuts everything down?

Obie

 

sounds like a loose starter connection. Thats where all the power feeds to.

 

Yep. Start there. Check the fusable links while there.

 

On the later cars there is a connector on the firewall near the right side cylinder head (passenger). This connector carriers current from the fusible link on the starter to the fuseblock. On my 80 the pin for this lead had corroded so badly that it cut off all current flow.

It's worth a look. I solved mine by pulling the wire from the connector, crimped a splice connector to it, soldered the lead as well and covered with heat shrink.

 

Thanks guys. I will check it out today and let you know. I'll start on the fuse box and work down.

It is so cold here in Maryland. We are averaging about 15-20 degrees below normal. As I write at 6AM, it is 10 degrees. The thought of crawling under a Vette with the wind blowing is not too exciting. What really pisses me off is that I have a lift in my garage, but I can't drive the car to it. Go figure.

Thanks,

Obie

 

Obie,

As others have mentioned there are several places to look. In general the mid 70's cars wiring goes from the battery to the starter, and then from the starter to the alternator (the post) and from the alt into the main fuse block. Anyone of these could be an issue.

I recently found that the lead from the starter to the alt has snapped right at the alt post, killed everything. Soldered new connector and all is fine. I suspect that this lead is the most prone to snapping simply because it is a single small gauge wire that gets alot of vibration with very little support, all of the other areas usually have much thicker and better supported wires and mounting points.

Good luck

 

I crawled under the car and checked power to the Starter. It was good.

I then checked power to the Alternator. Also good.

I was checking all the wire harnesses in the engine area (passenger side) and saw a harness that was behind the engine that looked melted. I think heat from the exhaust melted it. So I thought that was the problem. It looked bad. I destroyed part of the connector getting it apart. I made 6 jumper wires to connect the 6 wires in the harness. I checked continuity and the wires were all good. There was power to only one of the wires. But the harness was not the problem.

Anyone have a suggestion of what I should check next.

Thanks,

Obie

 

I had a similar problem with my '76. I ended up taking the wire harness loose at the left side of the firewall...we call that, the junction block. There is a bolt that runs through the middle of it, that holds the parts together. I sprayed all the goop out of it with electrical cleaner, did a little scraping and cleaning, and then greased the mess out of it with dielectric grease, put it back together and it's all been fine since. That's been about 4 years ago. A friend had recommended this to me. Funny part is, I spent about a year putting these junction blocks together and installing them on Chevy S-10s for about a year...It all looked quite familiar to me.

 

I bought a new starter harness to replace the one that was slightly melted. I put the vette on my lift (no easy task since the car wouldn't start. I towed it with chains to the garage and used comealongs to bring it into the garage).

Anyway, that WAS the problem. I am not sure if something on the harness was bad or if it was the connector. But that took care of it.

Thank you guys for the help.

Obie

 

You've got a lot more b-lls than I do braving that freezing temp.
Next time consider just hot wiring the distributer from the alt wire and start it by jumping the starter to run it into the garage.
Mine had the same bad connection last week and it was a PITA with temps in the 80's.

Glad you fixed it.

 

Noonie,

You have a lot more ***** than I do. I can't even understand what you are telling me. I would be afraid I'd fry all the electronics. I am not an electrical guy.

Guess what? My problem is NOT fixed. Or I should say, it is fixed, but now I have a worse problem.

I replaced the Starter harness this morning and the car came back to life. I took it for a spin and everything was fine.

I just got in the car again to take it for a ride and things got weird in the driveway. The check engine soon light came on. I started the car and that was fine. The check engine soon light came on which was telling me something was not right. But when I put it in reverse, the starter engaged while the engine was running. Everytime I shift from forward to reverse, the starter engages. I know I wired it correctly. I was very careful.

Another clue. When I turned the car off, and I tried to restart, the starter would engage when I turned the key to accessories (the first stop). I did not have to turn it to the second position. In otherwords, if I wanted to just listen to the radio, the starter would kick in. HELP

Maybe this is what caused my problem in the first place. Any ideas at all?

Obie

 

Where did you get this new "starter wire harness" you installed and describe where it goes.

For now just to be on the safe side, disconnect the battery.

Have you got a continuity tester and/or test lite?

 

I went out to check the old harness for continuity. There are two fusible links (white plastic cylinders) on the power side of the harness. One link has a single wire red wire and the other link has two red wires.

The link with two wires is dead. Which must have been my original problem. So something cuased the problem.

I bought the harness from Wilcox. They tell me they buy their parts from Corvette America.

There was a ground which was connected to the engine or tranny

The wire with the power goes to the starter.

There was a violet wire that went to a small post on the starter.

There was another wire with a connector that belonged on a sensor above the spark plugs.

I think I did all that perfectly. I hit all connectes with QD Electric Cleaner. Sanded all contacts and hit it with cleaner again. I put dielectric grease on all connectors.

I did one thing that I was not 100% happy about. When I was under there, a wire with a very strange connector fell down. The connector has a little metal box built around it that you squeeze to put it on. I had a hell of a time finding where it went. I found a sensor at the bottom of the engine that had a protective plate over it. I put it on that sensor. The sensor is at a slight downward angle and has just a cylindrical prong on it. The connector does not hold well to that sensor and I know it will not stay on. The connector has nothing to grab onto on the sensor. I think I did the wrong thing. It just wasn't right. Either the sensor has something broken on it or I put it on the wrong thing.

Obie

 

I disconnected the wire to the sensor of concern. No change.

I think the problem could be in the ignition switch. The switch just feels different. It moves a lot easier than it used to. Not sure how to test except to replace.

I went out again to try it. It seems to fire up to soon and the starter doesn't seem to stop running until I turn the key off. Something is wacko between the ignition switch and the starter.

I can not make any mental connection between shifting the car and the starter firing up.

Obie

 

You're going to have to ring out your new wiring harness. Sounds like some wires are crossed including the safety neutral start.
Pm me if you need a diag of that.

 

It MUST be the starter switch. Sorry.

 

I just finished installing a new ignition switch. You have to be a contortionist to work under the dash and pulled out the steering column. I am hurting (54 years young).

Anyway, when I fired it up, I thought I fixed it. The key definitely feels better. However, when I shifted into reverse, the starter kicked in. When I put it in park, the starter kicked in.

I reworked the connector where the starter harness connects to a harness in the engine. The black wire (I assume the ground) in the starter harness looked like it previously shorted out or burned. I cleaned all contacts, added dialectric grease and put it back together.

I have been out to the car three times now (letting it cool down - temp in the 20's) and the problem appears to have stopped. My confidence is not good though.

Can anyone come up with an explanation of why a dirty ground would cause the starter to kick in when I shift to park or reverse? Is the neutral start suspect?

Obie

 

Where does the black wire connect according to the diag?

 

Noonie,

It is the black wire in the Starter Harness. It grounds to the transmission near the starter and goes through the Starter Harness. In the old/replaced Starter Harness, the ground was a mess and melted the plastic harness (I originally stated that it melted from the heat of the engine. I think I was wrong and it was a short).

The connector that mates with the starter harness is where I had the leftover dirty ground. I cleaned it pretty good. However, if you are asking me where the black wire goes from there, I have no idea.

Thanks for looking.