Logan176

Soooo... I'm stuck in a parking lot about an hour from home. The car starts, but the engine and entire electrical system cuts out when I turn on the headlights. Everything stays dead for about 10 minutes and then power comes back. When the car is running, I can turn the driving lights on, but not the headlights. The car immediately dies. Luckily I have a buddy with me, but I'd rather not call a tow truck and it's already dark. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

carriljc

If so, then you might be able to get home.

Logan176

Yes, it will run with the parking lights on. I just tried to turn my hazards on and the car died again.

resdoggie

Are your battery terminal connections clean? Tight? Think I had a similar problem at one time but that was decades ago. Don't forget the ground connected to the frame.

'75

Can you rev the engine a little and keep it running with the lights on? Also check to see if the wires at the starter seem tight.

Logan176

That was the last thing I tried. Brought the engine to 2k and pulled the headlight switch. Everything electrical died. At first I thought it could be the headlight switch, but I don't think that should kill the electrical to the entire car if it goes bad.

'75

I doubt the problem is related to the lights, likely related to increased electrical load and a bad connection somewhere.

'75

is there an auto parts store nearby?

Logan176

Thanks for the help everyone, but I had to call a tow. I've checked everything I can and the electrical system is shot. No juice at all.

Jebbysan

I bet the nut at the starter positive came loose......

Jebby

Rescue Rogers

Have you had a chance to check it today?

Logan176

The battery still has juice but power is not getting to the fuse box. Ground wire to the frame is attached and in good shape. There is a partially fried wire on the driver's side of the engine bay that runs along the side of the car. Will be working backwards from there.

Steve Clevenger

Interested to know what you end up finding on this. I have a C5 as well as a C3 and I was working with the battery and didn't get the battery terminals tight. Car started and ran fine until I noticed that the temp gauge was maxed out! Holy smokes. Pulled the car over and checked under the hood. Def not hot. Called a buddy and told him about the problem. He told me that vettes do funny things when grounds are not tight, I know not a C3, but grounds are grounds!

slickfx3

alt belt loose

shok

Yes I had the exact same thing happen with my 85 Mustang GT. Added new grounds and the issue went away.
I think there is something deeper here though.

Oldguard 7

Please post a pic of the wire. If you are unsure of what it is maybe we can ID it.

OldCarBum

Check your battery cables closely. I had one that had a slight white green tint around the connector. Pulled the cable to clean it and found the cable was badly corroded under the insulation. When I stripped back the insulation I found the cable was corroded over half way through. Good Luck.

SpiritOf76

What would that have to do with the car dying when the lights were turned on?


Sounds like a main bus undervolt.

MotorHead

My guess would be a bad alternator or something in the charging system. The car should run on the alternator but if the battery is flat and at night with the headlights on that might be too much of an load for the alternator.

Check the voltage across the the battery terminals, should be near 12volts. Get it running and check the voltage across the battery terminals again and it should be 13.5-14.5V.

If you do the check and the voltage is not the same as above then we can move on to other gremlins.

Please report back to the forum members who are trying to help you.

saunderscx

Just a shot in the dark here, but if you have an aftermarket electronic distributor, follow the 12V power wire from the starter up to the firewall. On my car there is a white ceramic looking block there. Two terminations. If either connector is loose or corroded your engine will shut down (looses spark).

I found mine to be corroded a bit & loose. The car would start and run normally, but then out of the blue BAM, the engine would die....especially scary when you're rolling down the highway. If I waited 10 min it would start back up. Finally I traced the problem to the HEI power wire on this terminal block located on the firewall.

The fact if I would wait a bit and the car would start right back up really puzzled me, but it turned out to just be a loose wire. I cleaned the tab style connector with a piece of sand paper, then crimped the connector slightly with pliers so it would make a tight fit when popped on the tab extending from this block on the firewall. Problem solved & never saw the issue again.