no electricity ????

[katt68]

my 1979 vette has no elecrtical power. put in a new battery with lots of juice. cleaned up the connectors to the battery, cleaned the ground cable going underneath the car attaching to the frame.
what else could be doing this. i have nothing, no lights,radio,..absolutely no power of any kind.
please help asap.
katt

 

[81 Corvette]

check all the wires and connections. I had a wire that was patched by someone. They did a bad job and it came apart and my car just died.

 

[The73vetteman]

You say you have a charged battery - how do you know? When you put a meter across the terminals what does it read?

Are you getting a click from the starter solenoid, or nothing at all?

All I can suggest is to systematically follow along the cable from battery to starter with a voltmeter. If you have power getting there then check the ignition swith wires in the same way.

Let us know how you get on with this.

'73

 

[Robin7TFour]

don't forget to check the Fusable link wires. there are several ,designed to 'blow' when there is a wiring issue.should be a couple near the starter terminals. check them by pulling the wires. if they stretch considerably.they are burnt and need repairing

robin

 

[SR'71]

Sounds like you have a bad/open chassis ground. Measure the voltage between your block and an unpainted part of your chassis. If you read 12V, bingo. Next phase is finding where the ground strap/s is /are, and repairing it/them. Quick check: jumper the frame[clean metal] to the block[clean metal] and try to start or any electrical. If all is functoinal than no doubt, bad ground/s

 

[Raymond O'Donoghue]

Does you have a theft system installed? Sometimes they can lead to problems.

Best Regards
Ray

 

[Ludigdrums]

I would also check all the wires at the starter motor...I too had the previous owners repair work, which came loose. No lights, no clicking, on nothing...however the underhood light would work. Very strange...but I repaired the connections at the starter, and everythings good again!

SR'71 - what's the "block" you're talking about...the engine?! And how exactly would there be any voltage to check?

- Jeremy

 

[Chris Kennedy]

Yeah, the folks are right who say to check the ignition harness around the starter--I had the same thing happen a couple of years ago, and, as I recall, the only things that would do anything were the underhood light and the headlights would go on. EVERYTHING else was dead. Please let us all know what you find out.

--Chris Kennedy

 

[JohnZ]

Did the power die with the old battery, or did it die when you installed the new battery? Is the new battery charged?

 

[joe1975]

There should be a junction block under the hood it's like a power center hot wire hooks to it the a bunch of other wires on a 74 it's on the passenger side probaly the same on your model when I had my 74 a few times when I'd go to start it nothing not even the horn so I got under the hood with a test light didn't take long to locate, something else to check good luck!

 

[SR'71]

The block is the engine. The black battery [ground] lead goes to the block. The engine/trans are rubber shock mounted to the chassis. This makes them electrically insulated. Every car has ground straps to complete the circuit between the bat neg pole to the chassis. If this wire is open strange sh-t happens. Check continuity [ohms] from frame to bat neg pole; open = problem.

 

[silver 80]

on my 80 there is a wide ele connector on the passanger side engine compart if that isn't connected real good then i have no power anywhere. I kinda use it when it's in storage, kinda looks like it's pluged in but not real good, no power.

 

[Ludigdrums]

Thanks SR'71..that make sense!

- Jeremy

 

[MacD2469]

katt68,

I had a problem such as your... My 82' would just die, total electrical loss. I found the problem in the connector that’s between the starter and the rest of the cars electrical system. You can find it above the starter along the firewall behind the motor. All the power for the cars electrical system goes through this connector. I had to cut he connector out and replace it with an item called a POSI-LOCK on each wire until I can afford the new wiring harnesses under the hood. They can be removed/re-used and will handle the amperage that the connector passes. I hope this helps…



Mac

my 1979 vette has no elecrtical power. put in a new battery with lots of juice. cleaned up the connectors to the battery, cleaned the ground cable going underneath the car attaching to the frame.
what else could be doing this. i have nothing, no lights,radio,..absolutely no power of any kind.
please help asap.
katt

 

[riverside red]

I had that problem .I found it be the battery ground cable both ends were clean I peeled the cover off the cable was green ,mold like.new cable fix it . Good luck Mike