I just replaced my battery two weeks ago. I drove the car for a weekend and had no problems. Then I let it sit for a week, and yesterday when I went to start it I had no juice, no where. Door locks don't work, dome light doesn't work, I can't even turn on the headlights, but my electric fan is wired to a toggle and it worked. Then miraculously the car had power. I was able to start it and being it is carbureted it requires some finesse to keep it running. The car died from being cold, when it died the instruments and everything had power. When I went to restart it all I heard was the starter solenoid click and everything loss power once again. Tried jumping it, no good. Cleaned bettery posts and checked all connections, still no luck. Please help I have a feeling it is something stupid like a relay or fuse. But all the fuses are good. WTF would cause me to lose all power to the enitre system, then it comes back and I'm able to start the car, but it won't work now? Its spuratic and I would appreciate any input that may lead to the problem getting fixed.
Thank you!!

 

Clean your battery terminals. Get a multi meter and follow the battery cable until you get into the car- eventually you'll find what's stopping the flow.

 

I would check the fusables down near the starter,tho I have never seen one do what you describe. It is possible that once you started current flowing by turning on the fan it allowed current to flow through an "almost blown" link and starting the car finished off the link. check them with a meter or test light to see if current is going through them

 

Would a blown fuse between the starter and the battery cause the entire system to lose power? That should only affect the start not the door locks, headlights, radio etc. And following the volatge is easier said than done the red wire that connects to the power post next to the battery goes into that black plastic conduit stuff which is gonna be a PITA to trace. My biggest issue is why all of a sudden? The car ran fine last weekend and then all of a sudden its dead today. Is there a master power reset somewhere on the car that I'm overlooking? I've looked thoroughly through my Haynes manual and can't find anything about one but those manuals aren't always completely detailed. Thank you for the ideas I'm definately wanting to beat this one to death with discussion; what a mystery. My friend is an electrical engineer and he keeps telling me I have a bad ground somewhere. I've looked at all the grounding locations on the car and checked them and every one is in good shape.

 

If you blow a fusible link (its basically a fuse that looks like a piece of wire)- then you'll lose power to the whole car since everything is supplied by the same cable. If you want to fix your car you're going to have to follow the conduit- it's not THAT hard. The positive cable goes to the starter then there are fusible links down there, get a wiring diagram and check voltages at the appropriate terminals on the starter.

P.S. If your fan turns on I'm guessing it could possibly be wired differently (you mentioned toggle switch) that the rest of the car's power.

 

on the starter you have the main battery cable, along with that there should be two other terminals on the same/main post on the starter. the fusible link is between the starter and a little black juntion box up on the firewall near the drivers side. just check power at this juction. Get under the car and run your hand down those wires on the starter. there will be small black pieces probably about a foot from the starter(could be more or less) those are the fusible links check power on both sides of those
I had ne pop on an ld Blazer of mine...... sounded like some one snapper thier fingers and it was dead......

 

Okay I checked the voltage at the starter and after the fusible links before they go into the wiring harness held within the black plastic conduit. Both locations had 11.5 volts. But this is where my problem is I think. Whenever I jiggle the wires with the fusible links I regain electrical power to the car. To me this sounds like either a short or poor connection in the wires on the fusible links. If the fuse is bad is it possible for it to carry voltage just not able to support an amperage load. Which is why the car won't start. Is there an actual glass-type fuse inside the little black cylinders on the wires? I can't figure out how to take them apart, do they unscrew, pull apart, or spread open to allow access a fuse held within the black cylinder on the wire? Or do I have to replace the wire by splicing in a new fusible link? I can't get under the car right now b/c I don't have a jack. But I can access them from the top. I just need to know what is required to replace them or get the fuse out. Thank you, posting this problem on the forums has been a great help and I appreciate you guys contributing your input.

 

Yes the link can carry current but not enough amps. to replace them you have to cut them out and splice in new ones. or fin another car to take them off of. any old GM car should have them. you might get lucky and find a bird or camaro and get the whole piece of harness cheap. its an eazy enough replacement