Hi Guys,

My family has had a white 1990 convertible since I think 92. About a year ago the car got into an accident and due to bad timing and financial issues it sat in our driveway for about a year. We finally decided to begin the process of fixing it. The first thing we did was put the battery on a charger just to see if it was shot or not. After a few days of charring the battery said it was charged and we put the key in the ignition and turned it. The car lit up as usual for a split second before everything turned off. And now, even with power attached nothing happens with you put the key in, the car is dead. The accident was just cosmetic so the engine, wiring, ect should be fine as they ran great before. We think it is a fuse, maybe a fusible link but really don't have any ideas on how to bring the car back to life. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks in Advance,
Russell

 

You may have to put a new battery in it regardless, even if it was charged.

The good news is that it lit up initially, though.

If there was something wrong with the wiring then it likely wouldn't have initially lit up at all.

A weak battery in these cars causes a lot of weird stuff to happen.

You could always have the battery tested under load at one of the brick and mortar parts stores, but I've done that before (at Auto Zone) and they told me the battery was good when in fact it was actually bad and a new battery solved the problem I was having.

Same thing happened with an alternator. They told me it tested good, but it was actually bad as well.

That left me wondering if some of the people who work in those Auto Zone stores even know how to use the testing equipment.

Maybe give the cables a look to check for corrosion if you haven't already.

Sometimes the cables corrode and disintegrate inside the shielding and you can't see it. Same with the alternator BAT wire.

Also check for loose cable grounds...



That diagram is from my 1990 service manual. Vin J is for the ZR-1. Vin 8 is for your car.

Also maybe check this thread to make it easier to locate some of the more germane grounds if you haven't ever messed around with em to know exactly where they are...

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...questions.html

 

Natty C has given you good advice. Id start with a new battery and throughly check all the grounds and battery cables.

 

Like was said before, most likely your battery is kaput from sitting for a year. You can test it yourself before removing it and getting it load tested. Charge it up again, with a regular charger, not a trickle charger or "maintainer". A fully charged battery should read at least 12.6V. Try to start the car and see what the battery reads. If it drops down to 9-10V or less when starting it is no good and needs replacement. That is your load test. And measure it again when you are done trying to start it. If it dropped significantly from just doing that, it is no good.
And FYI, when you load test a battery with a tester it must be fully charged first. After putting your battery on a charger, it's possible for it to read 12.6 V or so but have limited or no capacity - that's what the load test measures. In all likelihood, getting a new battery will get your car started but charge it up first again and go from there.
And also make sure your battery terminal connections are clean and tight.

 

My Autozone told me my battery was bad when it was good! They also improperly tested my starter but I caught it and corrected them because the screen produces a diagram of how the tester should be hooked up. Maybe your Auto Zone and mine should meet and maybe they will average out to being correct?

@OP Batteries have an internal resistance whereby they can discharge themselves over time when not in use. Sometimes they are too far gone and may appear to have the correct voltage but cannot produce sufficient current to start the car.

As Natty suggested, also look for loose connections and corrosion. You can measure the resistance between the ends of your battery cables with your multimeter and it should be low - also continuity to ground with your grounds.

Two dissimilar metals contacting each other can also create corrosion as is the case with this botched wiring job for an aftermarket stereo system. Look for bulging in the insulation.

 

An easy way to see if the battery is at least somewhat charged is to see if the headlights come on.

 

Thank you all for the info, I will keep all of this in mind moving forward.

We are getting a new battery within the next few days. One thing we tried recently was to put a jump box directly on the positive and negative terminals (we had no intention of doing that for a long time, or starting the car, we just wanted to see if anything happened) and still nothing happened. No interior lights, headlights, nothing. I will check all the grounds once I get home but the car had no issues when we parked it and it literally was not touched until this issue started happening. It seems like the symptoms of a fuse.