I need a little help...

I've had intermittent starting on my 82 for a while. I blamed it on the aftermarkey alarm. One time it would start fine, the next time it wouldn't make a sound... All other power accessories were always fine..

So yesterday I took the car in to a shop and had them take out the alarm and put in a new starter. They told me that I was only getting 6 volts to the starter and that was the problem. $300 later they said I was getting 10+ to the starter but that I needed a new battery.

Well, I didn't think my battery was bad but when I got the car home and it did the same thing as before, I tried to boost it. Always before the car would start just as soon as the cable touched. This time, nothing... Let it sit charging for half an hour.. nothing. I took a good battery out of another car.. nothing... I put the Vette battery back in the other car and it started like a champ!

So, I crawled under the car looking for loose connections. There was a two wire pigtail with a plastic connector hanging down. I felt around till I found a like plug on the side of the block. When I went to plug it in the plastic connector crumbled in my hands. I got the wires on there good enough to stay and the car started fine...

Today, I go back out there and the car will do nothing! I made sure those two wires were on that plug.. What is that anyway?

There was another wire hanging loose that has a big square connector on the end. I assume that it slips over the long stud sticking out the end of the battery?

Through all of my books and online I can't find anything that tells me where all these wires go on the starter so I can make sure that they are right. Can anyone think of any other reason my car won't even try to start?

Thanks,
Dale

 

The big white starter/ground plug is notorious. It's not properly designed, the rating for the connector must be too low because those things get too hot and will either crumble or melt and cause problems in the long run.

What you can do is replace it with a heavy duty (stackable) connector from AMP. I recommended this to a friend and he built his like this (all the individual connectors click together to form the big one)



I don't know the color coding but if you have the wires on correctly maybe you zapped them without realizing it and you burned the fusible links. They're at the end of the starter harness, near the starter. The wires will have a cylindrical crimper on them with an amperage rating and from there on the rest of the wire is fusible. If the wire feels soft and weak it's shot. You can replace the wire with a normal wire, same gauge as rest of the wire to the connector, and put in a fuse box and use a glass fuse w/ the amperage rating that was on that cylindrical block.


[Modified by Twin_Turbo, 2:12 AM 9/25/2003]

 

Here are some shots of my starter harness rebuild in my 82. If you look close at the OEM harness you'll see about 6 inches of bare wire; I don’t even know how that happened. Got a replacement harness and everything works perfect. Now if I can just get to idle.

 

WOW! nice job Skyhigh, how much are you selling your new harness for??? :lol:

 

Got the Harness from: http://www.lectriclimited.com/

VSM8200 $63.00 STARTER MOTOR EXTENSION HARNESS, all

 

That looks great! I'm almost ashamed to show these pics of mine now! haha... Maybe I'll end up ordering one of those. The thing that bothers me is that it was starting... Now it won't do anything.. Not even when trying to boost.

I think I figured out that the double wire clip that was in question is an aux fan switch. It is circled in red in the picture below. (Hate to show my oily engine after that clean starter!) The plastic clip is broken so I just have the two wires. Does it matter which wire goes on which post? Would this stop the car from cranking...


Next, I found this other wire hanging down. It has sort of a box connector on the end of it. It appears to sort of clip on somewhere and be held on by pressure from the clip. In the picture there are two holes. The clip presses together to make one hole and a pressure fit. It is inside a plastic sleeve and goes up the firewall and into a larger harness.. Any ideas what this is? Where it goes? And if this would stop the car from cranking?


The other wires, although in rough oily shape, appear to be on correctly. I have good power to all accessories but just nothing at all to the starter.

Thanks for all the help guys.
Dale


[Modified by Songman, 7:05 PM 9/25/2003]

 

The boxed connector is to the knock sensor located just in front of the solenoid.

 

Thanks! Would that keep the car from cranking if it weren't connected?

 

After thinking about this problem for a couple of days now, I think I might know part of your problem.
First off, you correct, the 2 wire plug is for the aux. fan, it doesn't matter which side the wires go on.
And the knock sensor will not affect the starter.

Last year my 82 almost burnt to the ground, the main battery cable runs from the battery, thru the transmission tunnel to the starter, mine had been rubbing for awhile, and it finally shorted out against the parking brake mounting bracket.
All of your descriptions sure sound like a main battery cable problem, either a loose connection, or just maybe Bubba was under you center counsel, and knowing Bubba, he might have spliced your main battery cable back together.

Just another shot in the dark here, and if you happen to find your gremlin, Please post it, I really want to see you get this one fixed.

 

We can't have any of these considered opinions based on good logic and deductive reasoning. What would Bubba say? :jester

Songman,
If you don't find the problem and want some free help. I'll can be in your area on Sunday with a few hours to kill.
Dane

 

Thanks! I'm going to try a few things tomorrow and see what I can get done. I'll post any results tomorrow.

Dane, if you're up this way, I would love some help figuring this out!

Thanks,
Dale

 

I wonder if your neutral safety switch is on the blink if your vette does nothing when you turn the key. I think you have 2 wiring harness that plug in on top of your steering column and a long one on the column. Make sure they are tight for they feed the ignition system. You should have 12 volts at the starter from the battery, if not change the battery. Pull off the 2 red wires and check the voltage from the big cable from the starter should be 12 and the hook up the red leads and see if you have a voltage drop for they feed the 12 volts to the fuse box through the engine harness. If there is a drop you have something shorted to ground.
Neil in Tenn

 

Yippeeee!!! Finally got my car going! It turned out to be a bad relay on the stock alarm. Just bypassed the alarm and it starts great now!

Thanks to everyone for your help!

 

Glad to hear you found it, now it's cruising time.... :steering:

 

Yep! And it is finally getting cool enough here to take the tops out!

Let me see what else is on my list though...
Valve cover gaskets, brakes, rear diff axle seals, rear coil spring...

Not too bad!

 

Probably a little late, but I had similar problems with my '80. Totally intermittent starting. Could go for months at a time, then suddenly not start. Replaced the starter, the wiring around the starter. Needless to say I was getting pretty angry about the whole thing, after getting stuck at random places several times after thinking I had fixed the problem. It turned out to be the safety switch in the center console. Not sure about the technical name for it, but it's the one that won't let you start when your not in park.
Decided to just bypass the whole stock system with a new 40-amp relay and now everything works wonderful (ofcourse that switch is still out of the loop). Bubba had been in my electrical system quite often it seemed (yeah, we got 'em out here in Hawaii too!).