bley49

my 85 sat for several months with a brand new battery when it got garages just charged it up after doing some part swaps it's fully charged new battery and i got no power at all i cleaned the terminals removed and put them back on several times to see if they just weren't on right or something. all the fuses are good are they just not threading in right or something i'm at a loss? thanks in advance

don hall

If you charged the batt, does the charger have a "START" position?
If so, connect the charger to the installed batt terminals, turn the charger dial to START, and see if power is restored.
If power is restored with the charger, invest in a new batt (the old batt may still be under warranty (?)).

It is possible to have voltage, but no amps, especially with a batt that has been completely discharged.
When you have the batt tested for voltage, it is always wise to have it LOAD TESTED, also. That will
confirm amperage.

hcbph

I have seen where a brand new battery was discharged to the point you couldn't charge it up. Happened to me one with a Diehard. Turned there was a broken interior switch on the glovebox light. Charge it up, let it sit a month and the battery was dead. The battery was only a couple of months old when this started and the battery would not take a charge. New battery and unhooked the battery till the problem was fixed.

s carter

The Above have Valid Points Newer doesn't always mean problem free, So let's take it the battery has the needed power. Still no power, Have you looked at the Fuse-able links behind the Battery?

One more question The Statement car has now power as like None No Door lights No dash no radio DEAD

BlowerWorks

Maybe I don't get it but you say battery dead after vehicle sitting a couple of months ? That is actually pretty normal given a 100 or so MA (milliampere) normal (ECM) draw ?

So say I take a lead/acid battery and fully charge and then with this battery sitting on a piece of wood on my benchtop how long can it sit and be OK ?

???

coupeguy2001

lead acid should lose about 30% over the period of a year if new.
Get a voltmeter at harbor freight.
put the leads onthe battery.
you should have at least 12.5 volts.
Fully charged battery with engine running will be 13.75 to 14.2.
If you jump the battery and get the car started, check volts at the battery after you start it and take the jumper cables off.
If you hook up jumper cables, pos to pos, neg to neg.
If you put the other way around, you risk popping a diode in the alternator.
You can do a lot of things to determine the problem.
take the fuses out, one by one.
On the meter, move the red lead to 10 amps socket. select 10 amps on the dial

put the meter on the fuse box where the fuse legs were, and read the meter.
you should have 5-15 milliamp draw maximum on any fuse spot.
If you look at the meter, you should see .0015
If you see .5 or 1.0, 0r 2.0 or anything like that, that is your draw.

But since you are having problems electrically, and have been fooling around with jumper cables,
Take the negative cable off the battery.
then put one lead of your meter on the neg. battery post, and the other lead on the neg. battery cable with the negative cable off of the battery.

You want the meter to be the link between the battery and the cable.

Make sure your meter is selected to amps, and the red lead is in the amps socket.
What do you read?
Should read .2

Ok, disconnect the negative battery cable

There are fusible links on the firewall near the Mass air relay next to the master cylinder outboard of the cruise control and slightly under it.
There is a metal post on a plastic bracket. There might be 4 red wires attached to the post.
take the wires off the post.
use your meter, this time on ohms.
You need to go from the battery positive lead to the wires you took off the plastic bracket.
Each of them need to read almost zero ohms.
That means the fusible links are good.
If your meter reading doesn't change from holding them in your hands to putting the leads on the car, that fusible link is no good.

Now, to see what zero ohms looks like, touch the leads metal ends to gether, and what you read on the meter is zero ohms for that meter.
Could be .00 or up to .002

By the way, you have an 85, one year only alternator.
A rebuilt could be as much as $500. Take care of it!!!!

Dont be lazy, do it

bley49

still nothing with charger on/started on the terminals

WVZR-1

OP - your car is an '85 and doesn't have the "jump-block' that everyone is mentioning behind the battery. I think it best if you mention what you've done to the car recently. All of your fusible links are either from the battery or are @ the starter.

Just list what you've most recently done.

What do you consider "NO POWER" - won't crank or you have no lights - horn or whatever?

NO POWER is certainly subject to individual assumption!!

bley49

Let me be more specific I mean literally nothing no interior lights nada nothing whether hooked up to the battery or the charger is directly on the terminals. need to get my volt meter back before i can check the links sounding like they are the culprit they probably haven't been replaced

Just did FP before it sat, and now ECM and TPS

s carter

If memory serves your Fuse-able link is Behind the battery laying on the frame by the fire wall, On later models there is a block, but in your car they are Kind of Red or Orange Rubber Insulated wire with a Possible Hard plastic Ring around it. There may be an Additional one down by the starter.

When they fail it usually blows the side out link.

bley49

There's alot of wiring in that area next to the battery under the brake master cylinder haven't found any good visual help. all that should be is still in the original plastic tubing crap I saw two think reddish wires in that area parallel to each other

s carter

This is the closest picture I could find your car will Probably won't have the junction block and the link is just a Spliced in section of the wire,
https://www.bing.com/images/search?v...verlay&first=1

WVZR-1

If battery checks good - No park or headlamps or horn?

If you have ABSOLUTELY NO POWER I believe you've had total GROUND FAILURE OR the POSITIVE CABLE TO THE STARTER HAS FAILED. If you had limited functionality then potential fusible links etc BUT WITH NOTHING I believe you first need to confirm grounds then just check the large post on starter solenoid for B+.

Do you have the '85 FSM{Factory Service Manual}? You haven't mentioned and no one has asked to this point.

Battery has 2 ground points - 1. to engine block above/near oil filter 2. to frame rail just below/near battery tray

WVZR-1

BIG BLUE I thought for alternator, 1 red for power distribution to blower with splices to ignition switch, generator also other power distribution and the other red for strictly power distribution. I had to cheat and use the FSM!

hcbph

Have you tried a different battery or jumpering the existing one to see what happens?

Here's a little tool that might be of use (see picture). You take a fuse out of the fuse block, plug it into the meter and plug the meter connector into the fuse block where the fuse had been. It gives you a reading on how much current is being pulled through that fuse. That may give you an idea of a circuit if it's pulling more power than expected. Be sure to do the circuit breakers too, though you'll have to make up a couple of pigtails to do that. There are also 'clamp on' dvom's that can read dc current if you suspect a circuit. Know though not every clamp on meter can read dc current (eg HF units don't).

It can be very frustrating and time consuming to track down electrical issues like this but it can be done.

Good luck.

bley49

yeah again it's no power at all to anything it just blows me away that sitting for several months and something just breaks in a cool dry garage the whole time i don't have a fsm but i'll definitely consider getting one this time haha

bley49

oh just remembered there has been a history of when i turned the key to the on position all power would just go away like it is now and i has to tap the terminals with a hammer or something get power again

bley49

so y'all are going to laugh so i used my voltage detector to see how far the current went from the terminals and saw it struggled to get through them really weak reading and i was looking at the terminals and pulled back the rubber shroud and found a butt load of corrosion took a wire brush to it reconnected them and boom i got power very weak because i didn't keep the battery on my charger but it's there will update once i see that it persists


so got voltage throughout the car while charging but only get lights and stuff during the first 30 seconds of charging but there's still voltage detected throughout the car battery is reading like a volt and a half the smart charger doesn't like trying to charge a fully discharged battery removed the battery i'm going to try and swap it out under warranty tomorrow

hcbph

If absolutely 'everything' is dead, that leads me to 3 possibilities: the battery, the positive battery cable and the negative battery cable.
If it was mine, here's what I'd do. First unhook the existing battery and try a different one: does anything come up? Ohm the 2 cables (unhooked) and see if there's continuity to them. It they check, try running a jumper from the lug on the starter where the positive cable hooks up to the connector for the fusible links under the battery, temporarily hook up the battery and turn the key on and see if anything comes up. Last is with the negative cable unhooked and the key on, check from the engine block to the negative battery post on the battery and see if anything comes active.

Best ideas I have at the moment.

rocco16

Last post:
First post: C'mon, man. If your last post was correct, then your first post was false.
No wonder we couldn't help pinpoint the trouble. Nobody can diagnose a problem if they don't have accurate information.