New Owner with problem

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Nov 23, 2008 | 09:00 PM

red673

Thread Starter

Cruising

Joined: Nov 2008

Posts: 11

Likes: 0

New Owner with problem

I am a proud new owner of an '82 limited edition . I went for the "last ride" of the year today before I put the car away for the winter. Car drove fine. Stopped at a friends house and when i went to leave the car was dead. I mean no sounds, no interior lights, nothing. Was going to get a jump and still nothing. Took the battery to the store to get a new one, the guy tested it and said it was a good battery. So called me 'vette expert who said without seeing it sounded like my ground was gone or messed up. So had the car towed and the mechanic also stated in his opinion it didnt sound to bad and he also thought it was a grounding problem and "should" be an easy fix. My question is, does this sound like grounding problem and what should I expect from the phonecall tommorow from the mechanic? thanks

Nov 23, 2008 | 09:14 PM

7T1vette

Team Owner

Joined: Jan 2006

Posts: 37,637

Likes: 3,116

From: Crossville TN

It's either a grounding problem or a problem with the positive cable coming from the battery. Have you checked the connections on the battery?

Nov 23, 2008 | 09:17 PM

red673

Thread Starter

Cruising

Joined: Nov 2008

Posts: 11

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yes, I took the battery out made sure there was no corrosion on the cables and reinstalled. Still nothing. The cables look new. Thats why it seems like a ground problem.

Nov 24, 2008 | 01:01 AM

Droshki

Pro

Joined: Oct 2005

Posts: 541

Likes: 1

From: Freeport FL

Assuming this is like the earlier cars and the ground cable leaves the battery compartment and connects to the frame underneath it.....which is probably a safe bet.....

When I was troubleshooting my starting problem I was amazed at how poor the crimp at this connection was. The cable was halfway out of the lug.

Of course, the only way to even see this is to be underneath the car, quite a fair ways.

Because I am not a big believer in using the frame to carry the ground forward this way (additional spots for just this kind of thing to go on) I replaced mine with a 1/0 cable directly from the battery to the engine block. I did the Positive one too, encased them in split loom and ran them though the hole in the frame for the stock exhaust pipes (I have sidepipes) to protect them and keep them dangling too low.

I left the jumper from the engine block to the frame in place, for whatever random stuff might be pulling a ground from the frame anywhere else on the car.

YMMV

But 7T1 is right, its definately a loose connection somewhere. The other places I would look are the aforementioned "block to frame" cable, and then the positive batery cable connection at the starter.

Last edited by Droshki; Nov 24, 2008 at 01:05 AM.

Nov 24, 2008 | 06:10 AM

RunningMan373

Melting Slicks

Joined: May 2007

Posts: 3,246

Likes: 4

From: Bay Area CA

What about a blown main fuseable link, from the starter +Batt bolt, to the main distribution block?

Nov 24, 2008 | 07:50 AM

imariver

Drifting

Joined: Jul 2008

Posts: 1,873

Likes: 27

From: Sonora CA

This exact same thing happened to me with my 73. The short ground cable from the frame to the engine block was fried by the exhaust pipe. After fixing this, it hasn't giving me any problems since.