Problems with not starting. I just recently bought an 80 L48 with under 40K original miles. The car is all original. Problem is that at times it won't start. It will go 10 or more times and start with no problem. Every once in a while I turn the key and get nothing. Not a click, not a whine, nothing. The battery tests at 12+ volts. All of the gauges register. If I put a charger on it, it will jump start with no problem. Goes another 10 times or so and I have the same problem. Nothing. Any thoughts or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

thanks Al

 

Are those "times" after you've been driving for a while?

 

Have you cleaned the battery cables and have a clean ground on the frame?

 

Probably a grounding issue. Check the engine block to frame ground (should be on the passenger side of the block - look from below). Battery negative cable connection to frame is the other.

 

The times when it won't start are random. Mostly when sitting in the garage and being started for some reason. I've only had the car about a month but this has happened numerous times. Battery cables are clean and tight with no corrosion. I will look at the two grounding issues.

thanks Al

 

I had a similar, random problem with my 77, years ago. Turns out it was missing the engine to frame ground cable completely.

 

Yes Sir; I had a 1980 with that problem, Ground cable was made out of copper coated Aluminum. It didn't look that bad until we removed it to replace. Good Luck

 

something I would check .There is a connection behind the passenger side motor head.it has 4-5 electrical wires that goes down do the starter .that connection goes bad.

 

That's what happened to mine. Drove me nuts for a couple months until I found out about that plug.

 

Thanks so much to everyone. I am going to start checking all of those grounding issues tomorrow. However, My concern about it being a grounding issue is that during the times that it won't start, everything works.....gauges register, blower motor blows, horn works, etc. If it were grounding would everything work.

thanks Al

 

Check all connections to make sure they're clean and the ground for the engine as other's have mentioned. The other issue with the 80 is the connector by the distributor that supplies the start connection to the starter. These get old and dirty and at some point will fail completely. I ended up cutting the connector out and gripping/soldering the connections.

Your starter switch may not be able to supply enough current to the solenoid. I wired in a relay so the starter switch energizes the relay and then use the relay to connect battery power to the solenoid start connection. No more problems after 25 years on my car.