I thought I would see if anyone could help. I was driving the other day and everthing seem find stop at the store and came back out and it started again then just died. I have no power at all no lights nothing. I have a volt meter in the dash and it shows no volts . You go start the car and nothing. There are no lights. I tested the batt its good the alternator is less than a year old. I put a volt meter on the starter an got 12.87 volts. I am lost. Any suggestions would be great I do know there are about 4 fusible links any suggetions on testing these. Thanks for the help. Oh did anyone place a order for the new camaro on Monday

 

When you turn the key does the starter make any sound at all? Alot of the time if it just makes a clicking sound but wont turn over its one of the post clamps, especially if there is any acid built up on one of them. You will still get a volt meter reading of 12 volts. Seems simple but often overlooked. Also, look for any wires that appear to be out by themselves from the harnessclose tothe battery. Some of these cars have a ground that is attached to the core support, and when you corner hard, likeleft turns, if the battery isnt tight it can knock the wire loose, and your dead in the water, it may keep running but when you turn it off it wont start.(personal experience)

 

in my experience if a fusable link burns up, the wire can be streched. If you find any wires like this the internals are burnt up andneed tobe replaced

 

Here is the kicker yesterday I made sure all the batt connections were tight. I was getting no reading at the volt meter on the dash and no sound from the starter no click or nothing. Even the lights would not work. went out this morning and it started up. I know yesterday it would do nothing I even checked the fuses and there was no power anywhere in this car. now there is power but I do not know for along. Thanks for the help

 

If it happened once, it could happen again. The positive battery cable goes directly down to the starter. There should also be a red accessory wire that doubles back from there, through a fusible link, that feeds into the car. Your link must still be good, or it wouldn't be working now. Check to make sure that wire isn't touching any exhaust pipe, headers, etc. You might also want to check the battery connection at the starter, and clean it (after disconnecting the + at the battery). Also check your ground cable from the battery. Usually it would go to the block, then a ground strap connects from the block to the frame to ground out the car itself. Somebody could have changed that around, or even removed the ground strap.

 

Thank for the info I did have it running and it just went dead again. I notice the volt meter was jumping around 12 volts and before it would stay about 14 before all this started. I will check the starter conncections. the ground cable from the battery is grounded on the alternator bracket. Then there is a small gauge wire running off the postive cable to a ground at thefront ofat the rad. surport.Thanks again

 

went out to check the connections at the starter all seemed fine I tight down the postive cable that runs to the batt. started her back and she ran for a min or 2 just shut down. I am thinking short somewhere but not sure where to look. The wiring has been hacked by the previous owner. I have a black wire running off the neg bat cable to the headlight plug. Thanks for the help!!!!

 

I sure hope you meant from the negative? Positive doesn't want to be grounded.

 

this is a small gauge wire running off the postive side of the battery to a screw on the radiator support. Looking at the wire diagram it shows a fusible link running off the postive to a junction block. then it show a black wire running off the negative to radiator support has a ground. the black wire on mine that is running off the neg. is going right into the headlight plug. It looks like some has doctor up the wiring. There has to be a short somewhere. Thanks for the help I would like to figure it out but I might need to rewire the car.
Thanks again for the help!!!!

 

OK, I'm gonna whisper this....ready??? TAKE THAT WIRE OFF!!!!!
There should be NO positive wires, whether big or small, going directly to ground....no way....no how.
Remove it, then let's see how well it runs.
EDIT: do you need me to explain why you don't want power from the battery going to ground and draining/shorting/overheating/melting/burning the electrical system, or can you figure it out?