im new to this forum... i let my dad drive my 1980 camaro with a 350, home from the place that we drove to for dinner ( in sepret cars). the car ran fine but when i hoped in it the next morning to go to drill the car was 100% dead.

the battery is good with lots of power, there is power going down the pos cable to the starter, i replaced all blown fuses (3).

i am at a dead end and i have completly had it with fixing things and the car still not running... any ideas?

 

Do the lights work?

 

1st,...have you tried jumping the car off with cables?
2nd,.. are your headlights good and bright?
3rd,...check to see if anything that is fuse related work, (items that must have the switch on to work).
4th,...have you tried putting the car in "Nuetral" to start? (or taking it out of gear and shoving it into park kinda hard)?

If you have bright lights and have tried jumping it off, then the battery is NOT the problem.

If items requiring the ingition switch to be in the "on" position work, then it eliminates the switch.

If it won't start in nuetral,..then it's not the nuetral safety switch on the transmiission or not in park good.

After these checks, it usually only leaves the starter. You can attempt to jump it by crossing it out with a long narrow screwdriver at the starter. If you do this MAKE SURE you have the car in park and clear of all moving parts.

 

yes i did try to jump start the car with cables.
there are no headlights, no horn, no radio, no anything
the starter was bad and i replaced it todaay but still nothing.

there is an extra solenoid that is bolted on ontop of the wheel well, it was bad so i replaced it. the owner that i bought the car from has a on/off switch that turnes on all of the electrical.
i will cross the starter tomarrow and see if that starts it... thanks for the ideas!!

 

Have you checked for a good ground? Sounds like you may have lost your main battery ground. Check to see that the neg. terminal is securely bolted to the block and has a good battery connection too.

 

You dont need to keep replacing part till you get the lights working.
If your light do not work you are not getting power to any part of the car.

Check your ground, and check the hot lead coming off the starter. Not the main one from the battery the smaller one. You need the fuse box to get power before the car will start.

 

You'll need a DC volt meter, or a 12 v. test light. Go from the negative terminal of the battery to the fuse block. This might take a piece of wire to extend your probes to check. Then go from a metal surface that's grounded inside the car to the fuse block. If you don't get 12 v. at either, then go from positive terminal of the battery to the engine to see if it lights up to indicate you've got a good ground.
Check all your fuses too, both with the key off and key on. (both sides of each fuse)

 

I was just going to say what 1971BB427 already said. Check your ground!

 

hey thanks for all the great advice, ill be checking sunday, i have drill all weekend... ill update sunday night

 

I would also check this switch out it could be bad. Can you just bolt the cable together and ellimante this switch? This could be the problem.