Been driving my '91 Firebird for a week with no problems. This morning (raining cats & dogs) I pull out and drive about 1/2 mi. no strange symptoms, then suddenly she cuts out and goes dead. I manage to pull her over to the side of the road. No juice coming from the battery at all. I open up the hood and notice that the ground battery cable is a little loose. I play with it and the lights suddenly go down but she still wouldn't start. My wife came over and I jumped her. Battery reading was in mid-range. I started driving her, got about 50 feet and she cut out again. I jumped her again and let her idle for a good 5 minutes, then drove her home. I let her idle in the driveway another 10 minutes and figured I'd try to make it to work. She cut out as soon as I started backing down the driveway.

I need to get this problem fixed tonight. I'm guessing it's the alternator. The battery is fairly old and I plan on replacing it and the cables.

Any other ideas?

 

ARGH!!!

I replaced the battery and alternator last night and still no luck. I noticed that, when I wiggled the battery ground (-) the passenger side light motor would whine for a minute.

Then it refused to start.

My neighbor took a quick look at it and said ignition switch and starter relay but that doesn't match the symptoms, unless I'm suffering from multiple problems at once.

Help!

 

Don't let your neighbor near your car. You don't have starting issues.

Check the battery cables, the crimp terminals and the other ends too (the ground and also power cable on the starter). It sure sounds like a loose connection somewhere.

Hope this helps.
Lou

P.S.: What did you do with the old alternator? Returned it as a core or do you still have it?

 

I still have the old alternator. I'll keep the new one and planned on returning the old one for core ($30, I believe).

 

Now it won't crank. Trying to diagnose the problem yesterday, I'm afraid I burned something out (ICM? Computer? Starter solenoid?)

When you turn the key, you there is a single click (or sometimes a thunk or clunk). If you turn the key again, you get nothing (no dash lights, nothing). Until you disconnect the battery and wait 30 seconds. When you reconnect the battery, you get the whir from the passenger side light motor. Rinse, repeat.

The thunk is making me think I need to replace the starter. Any ideas?

 

Hmm, that sure sounds like a bad connection from the battery to the car. Check the terminals but not only on the posts. Check also the cables where they come out of the terminals (especially if you have aftermarket terminals), they sometimes get oxidized.

Lou

 

Lou,

Thanks for the suggestion. I replaced the negative battery cable yesterday. I also tried two different batteries. I have yet to replace the positive battery cable. The car is getting juice, though, because, after disconnecting the battery, I can get dummy lights and the radio comes on.

 

Right.
If a battery terminal or cable has poor contact, the car gets juice to the radio and dome lights, it all looks normal. Then if one turns on the headlights or cranks the engine, the poor connection can't handle that much current and burns out. Everything goes dead. Then later, let's say after some cable wiggling, a new poor connection is created and the car looks like it's getting plenty of juice. And the cycle repeats. Been there, twice.

I am not saying at all that this must be what's happening with your car. It's just easy to check and correct (and it should be a maintenance item anyway).

Hope this helps.
Lou

 

Lou,

Thanks a lot for the info. I'll go under the car tonight and make sure the positive leads are all well and good.

 

You might want to try cleaning off ALL of your connections related to you charging system. Also make sure that your connections to your battery are solid.

 

Lou,

Just wanted to give you the heads up and a massive thank-you. I replaced the negative and positive battery cables and, sure enough, it was a bad connection at the starter terminal. Well done!

Now onto the other problems.

 

Glad you found it!

Lou