93 no start
Thread Starter
5th Gear
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 5
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93 no start
Put in a new battery last Saturday and took it for the first drive of the season
. I went out today and when I turned the key I heard a loud click, like a breaker popping, and the whole car is dead. I thought about this for a couple minutes and tried starting it again ... same thing. One more time and now I have no electrical functions at all.
All the fuses under the hood and in the dash are good.
I really would like some advise on where to start looking for the problem.
. I went out today and when I turned the key I heard a loud click, like a breaker popping, and the whole car is dead. I thought about this for a couple minutes and tried starting it again ... same thing. One more time and now I have no electrical functions at all.All the fuses under the hood and in the dash are good.
I really would like some advise on where to start looking for the problem.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 5,621
Likes: 206
From: Orlando FL
If nothing works and there is not any lights at all like dash, brake or head lights, then you need to check all positive and negative cables for continuity and connections. You probably need to get a meter out also and make some preliminary voltage readings to see if something is obviously bad.
Thread Starter
5th Gear
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 5
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pcolt94, thanks for the reply. Yes there are no lights on the dash, nothing inside or out, just like there is no battery (which shows 13.1 volts). I am thinking that maybe the starter solenoid shorted but I really don't understand why the power would come back on after a little bit, like a self resetting breaker, and now there is nothing. Must be fuse somewhere I don't know about.
I am going to look at it this afternoon ( I hope). Just thought maybe someone here had this happen before and could point me in the right direction.
Thanks again, Cheddar head
I am going to look at it this afternoon ( I hope). Just thought maybe someone here had this happen before and could point me in the right direction.
Thanks again, Cheddar head
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 5,621
Likes: 206
From: Orlando FL
There is no one fuse, circuit breaker or any other part or device that would kill power to the car. A fuse would normally would only affect power to one area or circuit. You seem to have a global problem that is affecting power to the entire car.
You need to start at the beginning with the battery cables and connections. You will need to look at the ground return cable to the chassis. I personally would get in there with a meter and make some voltage measurements and see where I had voltage under the hood and where you did not. You will have evaluate what ground to use for your voltage measurements as if you do have a ground return problem with the battery, wrong interpretations of the voltage reading could send you off in a wrong direction in regard to what ground you use (battery or engine (chassis)).
You need to start at the beginning with the battery cables and connections. You will need to look at the ground return cable to the chassis. I personally would get in there with a meter and make some voltage measurements and see where I had voltage under the hood and where you did not. You will have evaluate what ground to use for your voltage measurements as if you do have a ground return problem with the battery, wrong interpretations of the voltage reading could send you off in a wrong direction in regard to what ground you use (battery or engine (chassis)).
Thread Starter
5th Gear
Joined: Nov 2010
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Zralou, I'm glad you got that fixed. I was thinking something like that was the main problem too but my starter/solenoid checks out OK. I spent some time going over the positive circuits yesterday and found that the connection to number 1 fuse block got really hot at some point and melted the cover to the block, but all of the fuses are good so it must have happened before I owned the car. Then after reading pcolt94's reply I'll start checking the negative side of things when I can get back to it.
cheddar head
cheddar head
Thread Starter
5th Gear
Joined: Nov 2010
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Had enough time to work on the car this morning and just like pcolt94 said the ground strap had a terminal that had been replaced at some point in past and had failed ... again. I would say that simply replacing the ground strap fixed the problem but replacing it was not simple at all. Man that nut on the back of the engine is a bugger!
Anyway, all is good now... and thanks again for the help.
Cheddar head
Anyway, all is good now... and thanks again for the help.
Cheddar head
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From: Terre Haute, IN
Well, this is weird. I raised up the left side to look at the starter connection. Went to turn the key and nothing as usual. I put the meter on the battery and it read around 2 volts????? I hooked up the battery charger and everything lit up. Who knows why. The hot wire to the starter was loose and I tightened it up.
The car starts fine and after about 20 minutes on the charger the battery is almost at 13 v. Who knows.
BTW, I had the starter replaced a month or two ago by a mechanic and it appears that he did some sloppy work. Can't yell at him too much as he just had a stroke and can't walk or talk. Hopefully this will cure this problem. On to the next thing. This car is a hoot.
The car starts fine and after about 20 minutes on the charger the battery is almost at 13 v. Who knows.
BTW, I had the starter replaced a month or two ago by a mechanic and it appears that he did some sloppy work. Can't yell at him too much as he just had a stroke and can't walk or talk. Hopefully this will cure this problem. On to the next thing. This car is a hoot.