joyful day becomes first problem

[jeffsic]

I hope someone can help me. Today I bought my first vette. A 1969 427 convertible, what a beautiful car. Drove it most of the day and then it happened. The car started great and then I put the headlights on. Almost immediately everything cut out. The engine stopped and all electrical components were dead. No lights, no radio, no nothing including that the engine will not turn over. What happened? Everything was running just great. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. I checked the battery cables and they seemed fine, put meter on the battery and it has plenty of juice, checked the fuses but didn't see anything but can't see why it would be the fuses. Please help or give me anything to try.

Thanks

 

[chevyaddict]

Well, I'll take a stab. The headlights on most older chevies are wired in with the main circuitry for running the vehicle - not through the fuse panel. What I suspect is you have one of the headlight wires that are grounding either against another vital wire (like the main wire feeding the power to the car/fuse box) or this wire is grounding out on some metal somewhere. I would do a wire trace and see if you notice anything. If its grounded then it is shorting the system in a similar fashion as if the positive battery wire grounds out.

Dawn

 

[zwede]

Sounds like the main fusible link burned out. It is located near the starter. The thick battery cable goes to the starter, and then you have a thinner cable from the starter that feeds the rest of the car. On this thinner cable, about 5-10" from the starter you have a fusible link.

/Markus

 

[phxraptor]

Sounds like the main fusible link burned out. It is located near the starter. The thick battery cable goes to the starter, and then you have a thinner cable from the starter that feeds the rest of the car. On this thinner cable, about 5-10" from the starter you have a fusible link.

/Markus

;stupid

 

[jeffsic]

Latest status

Thanks for the feedback. Here's the latest. In the morning it just started like nothing had happened with the lights off. We were afraid to turn on the headlights because we wanted to drive it for the weekend. We traced some wires and found a wire leading from the front lights that was bare and touching the frame. We taped the wire and so far the car has run great although we still haven't turned on the lights yet. Does anyone know what would be the best written source for easy wiring diagrams, I'm not an expert on cars yet. Thanks again for the help.

 

[69_Dream]

I'm not sure if there's anything more comprehensive or specific... but I've always found Chilton's Gm Corvette 1963-82 Repair Manual pretty thorough. It contains almost everything you could ever want to know, including many wiring diagrams.

I would suggest it, as little problems can usually be fixed easily. Sometimes, it's only a matter of having the right info.

Good luck and let us know it goes.

Sly