Hello all,
1987 Corvette coupe auto 62000 miles. Last two days I've experienced a no start condition on my Corvette. Short and sweet is this...Went to start today turned ignition on interior lights and gauges light up and fuel pump relay whirls. Turn key to start and all I get is a click then all interior lights go out. Turn key again nothing at all. Checked and saw the positive battery cable was loose. Tightened and it started. Turned off and cleaned the posts and terminals with a wire brush.CLEAN. Reinstalled the cables and turned the key. Lights go on turn the key click and lights go off. Off course I shut the door hard as I'm angry and the lights go on. No start. I rock the battery lights go on...but click and no start. Each time I get no start I tried to locate and issue in the wiring. If I manipulate the positive cable the lights go back on but no start. Battery is one year old. I connected it to the voltmeter and it displays 12.5 - 12.6 volts. When I turn the key and get the click the battery meter does not change. Starter is 5 years old with only maybe 6000 miles on it. There is no heat shield in place and I did not have the starter wrapped when it was installed. I believe it is the starter although I can't wrap my head around why I lose lights for a few seconds, but they return at the slam of the door.

Sorry for the long post and thank you for reading. It is cold in NE PA. and tomorrow is my last shot to get it running so it can go into storage. Any advice or direction would be appreciated.

Kevin

 

Battery contacts aren't the only ones to clean

 

Def a connection issue. If you have lights, go to start and everything just goes out completely, thats a connection issue. Besides the battery, look at the main ground wire (usually the problem). Also the main wire to starter. Any small wires wont be the problem, Its in the heavy gauge wires.

 

You have a connection problem. not sure about later cars but there is a ground splice on the back of the head on the driver side as well as above the oil filter on mine. Those are only what I can see. Check to see if the cable on the battery is loose. I have had that happen a few times on the boat and cause all sorts of issues like you describe.

 

Thanks for all of the suggestions. As with everything I do its the dumbest thing..The other day I purchased a side post extender to make it easier to connect my trickle charger for the winter. Somehow, even though tight, the positive side did not make a good connection. Swapped new original side posts and it fired right up.

Thanks again for the assistance as always,

Kevin

 

Glad it was an easy fix. The side post extender I ended up using was a low profile one specifically for GMs. Looks like this one. I still made a few pie cuts in the inner part of the rubber boot because age made my OEM one shrink.

 

Thanks for the pic and suggestion. After my fix I went out to go for a drive and saw that my anti lock light was on. 1st time in 11 years of ownership. My brakes work fine. Small price to pay I guess. Now to track that light down

Kevin

 

Bet it tripped because of the battery mess... drive it a couple times and it may go out. Just saying.

 

It did go out. Thanks again