VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Electrical - 12 volt car is dead

I have a problem with my 71 Chevrolet corvette. That sucker is dead as a door nail. It was running fine then I went to crank it up and it would not turn over. I tried one more time and it started and I started to drive home and it died on me like you had cut the power, so I cranked it and it started up. I drove it home bout a 26 mile trip. Put it in the garage that was like a Thursday, on Sunday I started it and backed it out of the garage and it died and has not cranked since. The battery is fully charged. The lights the horn nothing will come on it is like it doesn’t even have a battery on it. It has me stumped?

Did you check the battery connections to make sure they are clean?

No the terminals are clean and tight, I could not find any fuses blown . Could it be a fusible link? Are the battery is just plan dead, I have never run intro this before.

Have you checked the connections at the starter also check for voltage there. Check the ground connection at the frame. Its not likely to be a Fuse link since it sounds intermitten before completely dying. Could also be a connection problem at the bulkhead connector on the firewall. The best is just follow the circut with a voltmeter to see where you have voltage and where you don't.

I would start at the starter solenoid terminal and go down stream from there. a little looseness and corrosion can cause real headaches. the grounds on the glass cars are notorious for being troublesome

You also might want to try the ignition switch, lose wire, short. Something to look at.

As has been suggested, make a good connection to battery negative terminal with a test light or multimeter with long lead and probe all connections from battery positive until you find 1 that has no power. It will be handy if you have a wiring diagram for the car but not necessary.
Tony

I am an 'old time Chevy Mechanic. Reading your post regarding
a '71 model car, I had one that drove me nuts till I finally
found the problem. That car has points and condenser ignition.
and there is resistance wire on the primary feed to the coil. There is also a wire from the starter solenoid to the coil that puts 12 volts to the coil only when the engine is cranking. That
wire is close to the exhaust manifold, and could be making
contact and in effect killing the ign circuit. It's worth a
look! Oops, just noticed you said nothing works. It sounds like
a bulk-head connector in the firewall or a fusible link by the
starter.

Well I found it, Sunday. I have been so busy till then to really look. It was on the fusible link, it was in the little connection was broke, the link was not burned . I am going to change that out and should be cruising then. Thanks guys !