Ok...

I went to start up my '99 vette this morning. I put the key in and the seat started to move into its driving position and the gauges were doing their start up thing but when I turned the key to start the car I lost all power. I got out to check the battery to see if there might be a problem there and I heard a soft tapping sound coming from the front headlight housing. Just out of random curiosity I tried to turn on the headlights. There was a 2-3 second delay and then the headlights popped up and all the power came back on in the car. I turned the headlights off and tried starting the car again and it fired right up.

I took the car for a test drive so see if anything odd would happen, but everything seemed normal. I stopped to run a quick errand and when I tried to start the vette again I had the same problem as before. I turned the headlights on and off and the car started again.

I decided to get my vette home ASAP. When I was pulling into my garage the car died. I don't know if I stalled it or the power died but the car would not restart. I turned the headlight on again but I didn't turn them off when I restarted the car. When the car restarted a message came up in Information Center which said "PULL KEY, WAIT 10 SECONDS" I turned the car off and waited 10 seconds. I put the key back in and started the car which fired right up, I did not turn the headlights on this time. I finished pulling into the garage and turned the car off. I waited a few seconds and tried starting the car again without turning the headlights on, and again the car started right up. I did this a third time and again the car started right up.

So at this point I'm sitting at my computer typing this up, with a stiff drink in hand, hoping that someone can shed some light on this.

 

If your battery leads are tight and clean I'd say your battery is about to die. Autozone will do an on load check for you

 

Yeah, multiple things going on. Pull the codes and as DeeGee said, check the battery connections.

 

I had similar problems... got in, inserted the key, gauges and everything seemed normal, turned the key to the start position and everything died. It end up being a loose battery cable. After I tightened it down I haven't had a problem since.

 

I would also 1st check to see if You can turn or move the battery cables at the terminals !! a VERY Comon problem is even though the bolts may be tight, its NOT Putting the terminals up against the battery - mostly because the bolts are tooooo long !!! At least check this !!! Good Luck !!!

 

agree with this guy.

1) Check battery leads
2) Check Battery to see if its dieing
3) Check grounds

For #3, my old mustang would do that same thing. There would be power and then I would try to start it and everything would be dead. It turned out to be the ground line from the battery to the engine block.

 

Thanks everyone for your help. I will start with the battery and go from there.

 

torque the terminals to 11 ft-lbs.

 

The positive terminal needed to be tightened by just the smallest fraction. The car seems to be fine now. Thanks again for everyone's help.