No electrical power
Thread Starter
1st Gear
Joined: May 2026
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
No electrical power
On my 1981 Corvette I put in a new battery about 4 months ago. I run the car mainly on weekends but have had no issues. Today when I attempted to start it there is no power on anything, no interior lights, starter, nothing. I removed the battery to see if something had run it down but it's delivering 12 volts to the meter. What would be the plausible thing to check at this point?
Melting Slicks
Joined: Feb 2018
Posts: 2,321
Likes: 720
From: Marietta GA
No lights, no radio, no starter turning. Look at the main ground from the battery that goes to the metal frame, it is located under the car behind the battery box. Clean under the bolt holding the negative battery cable to the frame. The corrosion under the connector will cause EVERYTHING Electrical to cease.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 6,713
Likes: 1,372
Yep. Make sure the battery terminal connections clean (that means clean them) and make sure they're tight afterwards.
Voltmeter means pretty much nothing. Get the battery fully charged or take it to your local autozone; mine will fully charge and then load test for free (or used to anyway).
Voltmeter means pretty much nothing. Get the battery fully charged or take it to your local autozone; mine will fully charge and then load test for free (or used to anyway).
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2021
Posts: 2,662
Likes: 2,119
From: Minnesota
Yep. Make sure the battery terminal connections clean (that means clean them) and make sure they're tight afterwards.
Voltmeter means pretty much nothing. Get the battery fully charged or take it to your local autozone; mine will fully charge and then load test for free (or used to anyway).
Voltmeter means pretty much nothing. Get the battery fully charged or take it to your local autozone; mine will fully charge and then load test for free (or used to anyway).
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2025
Posts: 1,676
Likes: 584
especially the ground cable itself, and its connection at frame AND Beneath ground cable's Insulation it may have cancer corrosion. ALL very common. New ground cable is remarkably cheap to purchase and rather easy to R&R.
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Drifting
Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 1,542
Likes: 43
From: Plano TX
I had a similar issue on my 80. It was the connector on the firewall on the left side of the distributor looking at it from the front of the car. The main power off the starter main terminal travels through this connector. The high current terminals get corroded. Check both sides of connector with a meter. I cut the high current wires (heavier gauge) and connected direct to each other.