Loss of Electric

[OcalaGuy]

Hi there gang,

First off, for whatever reason, I only drive my vette once in maybe 3 or 4 months. It sets parked for months.

I drove it many months ago and as I was motoring down the road all electrical power went out. Engine stopped, dash went out, everything went dead. I pulled over and it started right up.

Many months went past.

Last week while I was vacation I decided to get the nerve up and go meet some people for lunch. While driving around the parking lot looking for a space, again the power failed. I put it in park, turned the key off and started the car right up.

Would the battery cause a complete shutdown, but crank right up with no problem?

Could it be in the ignition switch?

A bad ground?

What's your thoughts?

Thanks gang,

Jim

 

[nearmiss]

This is *way* too weird. Today, my 96 LT4 exhibited very similar characteristics. Except it was on startup. I drive my car daily. Last night I pulled in, shut down - everything normal. This afternoon, I got in, turned the key and "click". You know that sound that we all hate. Before then console lights, door lights, everything worked. After the dreaded "click" no power any where. So, I popped the hood and started checking stuff. I found no obvious loose wires, bad fuses, etc.. So, figuring dead battery, I started to hook up my charger. I hooked up the positive side clamp, then touched the negative side clamp to the battery post before connecting and hood lights came on. I went into the car, turned the key and its like nothing ever happened. Except, the radio lost its presets and time of day. Any ideas? Short in the battery? If so, any good way to track it down? THanks for your help.

 

[G Winter]

sounds like dirty battery cable connections or bad battery cable-cables .

 

[GeorgeT]

Had a Buick that did the same. Bad postive battery cable.

 

[JimRo]

Start up..... Check this out! Buddie was just telling me a very similiar story. Ultimately took ignition key and cleaned the resistor on it and the car fired imediately. Interesting HUH!


Jim

 

[OcalaGuy]

Thank you one and all. I'm going to check all the ideas this weekend. This forum has the best people. Unlike some other forums who have memebers with snotty responses like I should know what's going on, you guy's come on-line with some great ideas to check.

Thanks again,

Jim

 

[taegdh]

Loss of electricity

Your both hitting upon things which will produce those symptoms on the late versions of the C4 Corvette.
If the car sits any length of time, especially in a warm humid climate, you get corossion at all the junctions and switches. It doesn't hurt the battery to put a coating of petroleum jelly on the battery terminals. Infact, I remember my father doing this in the 50s on the 48 Dodge, he explained what he was doing but it flew over my head for ten more years. You can't apply petroleum jelly to the ignition switch, but you can spray it out with canned air which you see at Office Depot or CompUSA nominally for use on computers. The switch is actually at the base of the column, and it should be used judiciously to clean any corrosion out there, but not dislodge the contacts.
The key with the chip built in has been known to "strand" people out in the middle of nowhere. A nice idea when they thought up, but the use of it to complete a security circuit so the rest of the car can work is not very practical in my mind. The vibration of driving down the road, especially if you have a key-ring with 10 to 20 keys and three door fobs causes misalignment of the chip and the receptacle.

 

[nearmiss]

Thanks for the suggestions. I pulled the battery out and sure enough, the positive terminal was pretty corroded. I cleaned it up, but its pretty far gone. So, I started chasing cable runs and this thing is a nightmare of routing, plus it has 3 different cables splitting off of the positive terminal. Just for fun, I called the local Chevy dealer to see what they'd charge for battery cable replacement (plus battery) and the estimate was over $450.00 !! They reason: routing the cables takes forever and is a pain in butt. I may wind up paying this since I absolutely hate electrical issues, but this seems extreme.

BTW, I bought an Optima battery because it seemed like a pretty cool technology. Unfortunately, they all have top posts in addition to side terminals. The top positive post is directly under a metal brace and won't fit in the car. I took it back to Autozone where the clerk asked, "Is this a Grand Sport"? Well, its not - its an CE/LT4. It turns out that there is no Optima (at least at Autozone) spec'd for the Grand Sport. Is it possible that there is additional, or at least different, bracing or brackets in the engine bay for the LT4 vs LT1 (or 1996 vs earlier?)?

 

[G Winter]

I have a sugestion for you. find a plastic mounted terminal with about a 1/4 or 1/2 in threaded stud. find a place to mount it somewhere near the battery.
Cut the cables from the cable end and install a heavy duty eyelet on each, soldering them in place. then get a short battery cable just long enough to reach from the battery to the terminal and connet it on the terminal with the other three cables . This should give you a good clean connection and the option of easily replacing the cable at the battery when needed. Being away from the battery the connections should have no corrosion problems. Should be less than a $20 fix.