Please help with ideas to find electrical / starting problem?
Thread Starter
Advanced
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 78
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From: Atlanta Georgia
Please help with ideas to find electrical / starting problem?
Today I starting my 81 vet. Had droven it several times over past 7 days with no problems. Car was cranking and then all of a sudden all the electrical stopped working. No starter working, no interior lights, nothing. I have plenty of juice (12.5+ v)coming off my battery (optima). Checked all fuses and none are blown. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.
Race Director
Joined: Feb 1999
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From: Lenoir City Tennessee
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St. Jude Donor '05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15
Re: Please help with ideas to find electrical / starting problem? (georgec)
Sounds like a fusible link. There are a couple next to the starter. One of these could be the problem not allowing anything to happen. Check your fusible links. :thumbs:
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 4,660
Likes: 3
From: South Central Louisiana
St. Jude Contributor
Re: Please help with ideas to find electrical / starting problem? (Eddie 70)
Bad connections at battery, frame, and engine block are most common. Clean all those connections just for good measure.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 752
Likes: 1
From: Springfield Oregon
Re: Please help with ideas to find electrical / starting problem? (LAvetteman)
Bad connections at battery, frame, and engine block are most common. Clean all those connections just for good measure.
Drifting
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,634
Likes: 2
From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, the World
Re: Please help with ideas to find electrical / starting problem? (georgec)
George,
Check out this thread. I sent Bgrice a long post on how to go through all the connections when his 74 wouldn't start. http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?&id=630027
:cheers:
Check out this thread. I sent Bgrice a long post on how to go through all the connections when his 74 wouldn't start. http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?&id=630027
:cheers:
Thread Starter
Advanced
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 78
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From: Atlanta Georgia
Re: Please help with ideas to find electrical / starting problem? (RHD '68 L89)
Thanks for all the help.
I found the problem. The negative battery cable (that runs from the battery to the frame just under the battery) had a large slit in it and it was all corroded inside the cable right at the slit. To see the problem you had to get under the car and look with a bright light.
Using help from the forum, I noticed that when I put multimeter on wire at starter and ran ground wire from battery I had 12+ volts (hence no problem with fusible links); however, when I connected multimeter to + wire at starter and - to frame or motor I had less than 4 volts. That tipped me to a possible problem with ground wire. At that point I went to battery and started tracing the ground.
Got a new battery cable from NAPA. Almost an exact fit. Connected it in and no more problems.
I found the problem. The negative battery cable (that runs from the battery to the frame just under the battery) had a large slit in it and it was all corroded inside the cable right at the slit. To see the problem you had to get under the car and look with a bright light.
Using help from the forum, I noticed that when I put multimeter on wire at starter and ran ground wire from battery I had 12+ volts (hence no problem with fusible links); however, when I connected multimeter to + wire at starter and - to frame or motor I had less than 4 volts. That tipped me to a possible problem with ground wire. At that point I went to battery and started tracing the ground.
Got a new battery cable from NAPA. Almost an exact fit. Connected it in and no more problems.
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 4,844
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From: Pearland TX
St. Jude Contributor
Re: Please help with ideas to find electrical / starting problem? (LAvetteman)
:thumbs: And some people say electrical problems are the worst. I say bring em on.
By the way... I have a question about your garage sitting out there in boondocklands. Why did you put it so far away from the house? I assume the house in the background is yours. Will a 12 gauge double barrel shotgun not reach that far just in case some critter runs across the property and you don't want to shoot the garage up too?
[Modified by bgrice, 11:22 PM 8/25/2003]
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Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 4,660
Likes: 3
From: South Central Louisiana
St. Jude Contributor
Re: Please help with ideas to find electrical / starting problem? (bgrice)
:lol: NO BG, that house in the back ground is my next door neighbors house. Not to many people have there workshop in front of there house that I know of.... :lolg:
If you look at the left edge of the pic you can see the very tip of my carport roof. Look at the ground and you will see a side walk connecting my carport to the workshop.
If you are ever in the area BG, you gotta stop buy and have a beer. ;)
If you look at the left edge of the pic you can see the very tip of my carport roof. Look at the ground and you will see a side walk connecting my carport to the workshop.
If you are ever in the area BG, you gotta stop buy and have a beer. ;)