'84 Won't Start
Thread Starter
6th Gear
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
'84 Won't Start
I drove my 84 vette today after a few months in the garage. I parked, went to lunch for an hour and drove it home. I made one more quick (5 minute) stop before I returned. When I try to start the car up it was dead. The volt meter droped below 11.
This is an on going problem with this car. 1st I thought it was the battery. I bought a new one 3 years ago and I leave it on a battery tender during the winter storage (about 5 Months).
Fortunately, I was close enough to walk home. Later in the evening (5 Hours Later) my wife drove me over so that I could jump the car. Before I opened the hood and got out the cables, I gave it one more try. And this time it started right up.
This is driving me crazy because it appears to be random. I do not know when or where it will leave me stranded. Any thoughts on why this is happening will be appreciated. Thanks.
This is an on going problem with this car. 1st I thought it was the battery. I bought a new one 3 years ago and I leave it on a battery tender during the winter storage (about 5 Months).
Fortunately, I was close enough to walk home. Later in the evening (5 Hours Later) my wife drove me over so that I could jump the car. Before I opened the hood and got out the cables, I gave it one more try. And this time it started right up.
This is driving me crazy because it appears to be random. I do not know when or where it will leave me stranded. Any thoughts on why this is happening will be appreciated. Thanks.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 54,124
Likes: 30
From: Cincinnati, Oh USA
You have classic symptoms of a poor battery cable connection. Remove the battery cables (neg first) and clean the battery cable lugs and the battery posts and the bolts until they are clean and bright then replace the cables (neg last). You also might have a discharged battery which you can tell with a voltmeter reading at the battery posts. 12.0 volts and below, discharged. 12.9 volts and above, fully charged. And linear in between (12.5 volts, 50% charged).
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 17,298
Likes: 33
From: The Top of Utah
Or maybe a weak altenator. A healthy battery will sometimes "bounce back" from sitting. You are running off the battery, discharging it, at least to a degree. Whether it's the connections or the alternator, it won't keep doing this. You are cycling the battery and will only tolerate that a few times.
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Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 5,214
Likes: 65
From: Queensland, AUSTRALIA
Buy yourself one of those portable jump-starters. If the car is capable of starting, this will get you started.This will obviously not cure the issue,but it will let you use the car with abit of confidence that you can get it started if this issue occurs at a bad time. I tend to agree with CFI-EFI though, your regulator in the alternator might have something wrong with it. Do you ever notice your dash going dim?
