Not sure about the lights. If it happens again I'll check them out. On the charging circuit, if the key is on without the engine running the Gen light ought to be on. It's not. None of the panel lights are on.

I too have been looking through the circuits tracking down what should work with the key on even if the engine isn't running. I'll just check each item out if it happens again. Also, I always carry jumpers in the the car - not, real heavy gage jumpers, cost $30 in 1981 - not booster cables. If it happens again I plan connect on end to the bat negative and the other end of the same cable to a good ground and see if it then starts. That should answer the question on whether the issue is the battery negative cable ground or not.

 

It would seem that the only way to take all these things out on the positive side would be if the connection between the battery cable at the solenoid and the various other wires tied to it to distribute power everywhere else would need to also go bad. If that happened though, it wouldn't seem that removing and replacing the negative cable at the battery would fix. But if the issue is the negative side, then the one ground there that would kill everything if bad is where the negative bat cable is tied to the frame. And since the negative cable is so short I can imagine that if there was an issue at the frame ground end, that connection could move when I take battery end of the cable off and put it back on and thus re-establish a connection.


You've talked about the negative ground to the frame is a short cable and you have cleaned and tightened it securely. What about the negative ground cable that goes from the frame to the the engine block? Have you checked the condition of that cable? I'm sorry if I have missed that in this thread but I just thought I would ask.

Hang in their Im sure a solution will come with all of the knowable people on this board.

 

You have checked the ground that goes between the battery and the frame what about the ground that goes from the frame to the engine?

 

https://www.dbelectrical.com/product...sdr0019-l.html

it does Not have the R terminal for OE points distributors ... otherwise superior to just about all else ... OE for later model iron 350 motors 168T

PMGR permanent magnet gear reduction ... light small Very powerful & reliable ... $50 delivered

If you don't have points, you don't need R terminal anyway

 

https://www.dbelectrical.com/product...ong-bolts.html

This starter DOES HAVE the R terminal for OE points distributors ... otherwise superior to just about all else ... OE for later model iron 350 motors 168T / Mercruiser

PMGR permanent magnet gear reduction ... light small Very powerful & reliable ... $52 delivered

 

I think your solenoid may be getting stuck then causing the system to think it's still trying to start. When you turn your key to start all the current in the system goes to the starter. This may be why your not seeing any accessory's on. After you have this condition and turn the key off if you turn it to the run position do your accessory's work. How about when you turn the key back to ACC? Do things work then? I don't have an alarm system (1971) so that might be an issue as well.
I'm having a similar issue but my acc is fine. I get the click, starter turns over, click starter turns over like my battery is low. Yesterday I put my charger on the battery for a few hours and then tried to start but got the same thing. Eventually it will start. My battery and alternator are good. Alternator is putting out around 14.5 volts. What I'm going to look at first is my solenoid connections. If they are tight and look good I'm going to pull the solenoid and see if anything is wrong with the return spring or internally. I might just change it out anyway as they are cheap.

 

Thanks again everyone for the advice. I believe this morning I solved it. After three successful cranks a last weekend, the car sat with the negative cable disconnected until this morning. Then I connected and hit the key - click and nothing. Not a circuit anywhere in the car working including those which are always hot. So, I pulled the neg cable off the bat as I've done before to get it to start. I reconnected and the interior lights came on. I tightened the connector to the post and then had to push the positive over past it to get the bat compartment cover closed. The interior lights went off. Now, there was no way the bat post connection was bad. And the negative to cable to frame was cleaned up and torqued well last week. The only other connection between the bat post and frame was the one that connected the original button style bat connector to the traditional style batter post connector connector. I got tired of the button styles corroding and failing years ago, so I got one of those post style terminals that can connect to the button style cables.

To check this I moved the cable around and the lights would go on and off. I took the post style connector off and found a good deal of corrosion in on the old button connector. I cleaned that up, put it back together with the post connector, and put the cable back on the battery. It was now stable. The car started. I took it over for new tires and brought it home - 6 starts overall. All worked.

I'll give kudos on this to mrvette who rightfully pointed out that ohm meters are generally useless for high current connections. But, I generally don't have a good micro-ohm meter at home. This high current connections typically have only a couple milliohm interface resistance maximum. A contact with up to 50 milliohms might read 0 on and ohm meter. That might not be an issue with 5 or 10 amps, but given what little metal to metal contact there there is at 50 milliohms,if you hit it with 300 amps the metal that is trying to carry the current will just melt and oxidize.

What I'd like to find now is some good contact grease which has nickel filings in it. The company I work for and others typically put this on most of the high power utility connectors they sell as the nickel is corrosion resistant and, being very hard, will scrape through any corrosion which might be on the contact surfaces. Unfortunately the grease is not something we sell and all the connectors are made in Canada, so I can't walk out to the plant and get some. If anyone knows of one, please let me know.

 

McMaster Carr sells several brands of contact grease anti seize with nickle and aluminum. Bostick brand is one we used at work.

 

I have Side-Post terminals (? sic Button) on non-vette vehicles which failed for various reasons ...
... foremost because the relatively short Integrated Side-Post bolts didn't engage enough female threads within Side-Post batteries ...
... and would begin to strip out ... could not tighten enough before they began to strip ... I found a "long-term" remedy ...
... I use a clean "normal" threaded hex Bolt with clean nut ... bolt threaded deeper into battery's Side-Post until it stops firmly ...
... then, while holding bolt with one wrench, I tighten nut firmly against Side-Post cable with another wrench ...
--- a double-nutted stud with a third nut would also work as well ...
... also, I use normal dielectric grease throughout ... Never an issue since using this combo ... yes it looks bubba-fugly, but it works.

 

I know I'm late on the reply, but so far no further issues. I agree with everything you said, including the side post term vs my colloquialism button contact, except for one item where I have a question. Why dielectric grease in a contact? Dielectric grease is designed specifically to create high electrical resistance. It would seem to be the one grease I wouldn't want. If just looking to avoid corrosion any grease would work as long as it was sticky and heat tolerant.

 

Don't matter what you called it ... I understood ... was just trying ensure others knew ... I use lotsa colloquialisms

I use dielectric grease to prevent corrosion ... if the mechanical bond is tight enough, dielectric grease does not interfere.

I also pack some multi-pin connectors (e.g. trailer-lights, mowers & tractors) with dieletric grease ...
... monkey see-monkey do ... I learned that studying assembly line and PPAP, FMEA docs at now-shuttered Mack Truck Winnsboro SC campus.

Some greases are conductive ... that plus moisture can promote corrosion on batt terminal ... and on multi-pins, I don't want cross-tracking.

Until I learned there was such a thing as dielectric grease ... I had used any ol' grease.

I prefer dielectric grease ... but no grease or any ol' grease ain't gonna sink the ship.

perhaps there's a parallel ? ... teflon tape on temp senders screwed into heads-water jackets ...
... turns out the teflon does not prevent the sender's housing from grounding ...
... the threads cut through the tape; completing the circuit with no significant increase in resistance.

 

PPAP and FMEA, know them well. Headed the FMEA working group at my company, developed and taught courses on it, published one paper through ASQ. Worthwhile procedure. But found it totally boring and was so happy when I got to a position that extricated me from it.

I agree with your comment that sufficient force will push through it. And it's pretty incredible how small the actual area of metal to metal contact there is in most connections.

 

Began my membership when it was ASQC ... before some brilliant pc-working group on rebranding decided "control" conveyed some negative connotation ...
... yea, here's QA & QC ... suppose a "Q" is a more democratic representation ... but done it all separately & all at once. Oh; never published.