I have a 1975 auto L82 convertible. Nice day today so around 6pm i decide to do some food shopping and take my vette to get the oil moving around (been sitting in the garage since Nov with battery tender on her).
Car runs beautifully and I park the car and go shopping. When I return to the car, the interiior lights come on fine, but when I turn the key all the way to the right to engage the starter motor every thing goes black.
I turn the key off wait a few seconds and again, when I turn the key part of the way, the fasteen seat belt light and buzzer comes on --- but as soon as I turn the key further to the right to engage the starter motor everything goes dark. I try to do it again quickly but this time nothing --- not even the fasten seat belt light and buzzer come on ---- but if I wait 30 seconds and try it again, I do get the seatbelt light and buzzer to come on, but as soon as I turn the key farther to the right to try an engage the starter motor, I hear a slight click and everything goes black. It's now dark out, I have no flashlight or any tools whatsoever with me So i call AAA and I' waiting around in the dark (about 20 minutes lapses) and I think --- let me try this one more time, but first let me check the battery connections (I do have a kill switch on one post of the battery). The kill switch seems tight but using a lot of force I manage to turn the **** maybe another 1/16 of a turn and then I try to move the other battery connection --- but it won't budge but I still yank on it in an up and dowm motion. Then I try to start the car ---- and it turns over perfectly. WTF ---

I doubt the battery connections had anything to do with this problem..I'm guessing there is some kind of relay in the starter circuit that was being tripped and killing the power to everything --- is that true and where would it be. One last piece of info --- several weeks ago i dropped a small screw driver (3 inches long) behind the distributor and could never find it. I wonder if this is still down there somewhere shorting something out --- unlikely, but I never found the damn thing.

Any Ideas what to check and look for. Is there a relay in the starter circuit somewhere that I need to check and replace. OH -- the starter motor is maybe 1 year old and it's not the solenoid that's causing my problem. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I hate having an undependable car

Thanks

 

It can only be one of two things: 1) the battery is "toast", which I do not believe since it has been on a battery tender; 2) wiring connections on the main wires (positive and ground leads) from the battery. First check your battery connections: remove them, clean them and make sure there is good solid connection. If that doesn't help you, it has to be on the other end. My first suspicion is the connection on the battery ground wire to the frame.

 

Actually that's the first place to check since it got it going & a bad bat. connection would do that. The bat. kill switch may have a bad connection- try w/o it.

 

I agree sounds like a bad battery terminal. Clean and check first then check starter connection and ground connection on frame.

 

Maybe I didn't read your post correctly but it sounds like starter solenoid heat soak to me.

 

hey Roger, whats a starter solenoid heat soak? i've never worked on older cars before but i'm learning alot by reading all these post!

 

If the rest of the car hadn't gone completely dead, I would agree with Roger. In this case, I'm not hopeful...but...we won't know until the 'returns' are in.

Hope it turns out to be a simple find and fix.

 

Did a rebuild on the engine about 3000 miles ago and replaced just about everything --- including the starter motor --- with a mini -- so I doubt it's the starter and since it is still relatively cold outside, heat soak is not likely to be the problem. In the next few days I will clean-up and reconnect each battery cable (on both ends) and then see what happpens. I'll have to take a careful look at the connection at the starter motor --- and maybe I can find that missing screw driver while I'm poking around under there.

 

I've seen corroded terminals the cause of this behavior many times.

 

I was picturing the "going dead" (depending on what items are on)to be like trying to start in drive in an auto or foot not on the clutch in a 4 speed. In general most dash related items turn off during starting except the ignition feed.
If his headlight circuit for instance go dark when starting I will have to agree with the rest of you the battery connections would be first on my list.

 

I have a kill switch, in car battery tender, and I go through the same issues. Even hooking up a "large" charger will result in it telling me the battery is charged, yet I only get a click if I am lucky.

100% of the time it has proven to be the connections at the battery which are somewhat stressed by the kill switch and the tender. There isn't a lot of room for all the "stuff" and it torques the cable to battery area causing it to loosen a bit over time. JUST CRANK EM DOWN

 

Solenoid heat soak as I have experienced it is when the car starts fine when the engine is cold but after driving and then turning the engine for a few minutes the engine won't restart (no click)until you let the car sit for awhile and then it starts fine. No click is the key , a very slow turning starter is not the same thing and is a different issue.
I view this as the exhaust manifold being very near the solenoid heating the solenoid to the point of internal failure but when given time to cool will then restart. Some cars need to sit for several minutes before the no click will happen and some will no click as soon as you turn the engine off. Again "no click " , silence from the solenoid is to me what points to solenoid heat soak.
Don't confuse "starter" heat soak ( which is a low amp ,bad connection ,pos or neg, thing ,not a starter problem ) and "solenoid" heat soak ( which is bad solenoid thing).
Hope this helps.

 

You must be using the **** type disconnect, they are susceptible to separation due to the heavy cable and cross threading. I have posted a thread with a pretty simple fix that keeps the **** type from separating which makes it a pretty good disconnect. I will try to find the thread and post a link.

 

I do have a **** disconnect, but the loosening I experience tends to be at the actual battery terminals. Seems related to having to torque the connectors to a flat interface which loosens over time. The tender has connections sandwiched in there also which adds to the problem but I actually dremel a bit out of the plastic case to allow for tender's connectors to sandwich in flat. Just saying that with his reported symptoms I would for sure suspect connections at the battery.

 

I would be interested in the fix... did a search for it and find the disconnects have been pretty hotly debated over the years too

 

I thought I posted this here at CF but couldn't find it so here is a link where I posted it on the ncrs forum.
http://www.ncrs.org/forums/showthrea...72705&uid=3676

 

got it, thanks!

 

i exactly have this problem on my 1972. The previous owner changed the starter 2000 miles ago, but i have the problem again, now.

How can i solve it? I'm searching for "starter" on the forum and i found this topic.. can you show me a link that will help me?

thanks!

 

Finally got a chance to get my 75 out of the garage and looked over the connections at the battery --- they were not as perfect as I thought so I cleaned and tightened everything up. I think that was the problem and I will take the car out for a long drive tomorrow. Thnks to all for your input, suggestions and concern.