A frien of mine gave me a Firebird Formula 1989, the car was in his backyard for 10 YEARS!!, I took it home and replaced allot of parts.

Yesterday a put a battery and .... YES!!!! WIPERS, WINDOWS, LIGHTS.ETC ETC ETC. Headlights wont go up and down, rebuild the gears inside the motors, today I wake up early to test the headlights but nothing works, no power I spent all day trying to find the problem , replaced the ACC fuses (2), check the baterry and its good.

I know I have to bypass the vats, but now I dont have power at all.

Another question, by the fuse block there is 2 black ground wires and I don't remember where they go.


Can somebody help me???

 

We often get questions about, taking a car or truck that has been sitting for years, and troubleshooting reasons why there isn't any power to the inside of the vehicle.

Here are a few simple basics to remember first before diving in too deep.
Get a brand new battery if you do not have one.

Also make sure the battery terminals on the car are cleaned with a wire brush to ensure you’re getting a good contact.

Grab a test light and make sure that the solenoid is getting power to it, and work your way to the harness to see if it's getting to the inside of the vehicle, then troubleshoot your relays and switches from there.


T

 

Hi Tony, I have to make a correction to my post.

When I connected the battery (battery cables corroded) after 10 years the car was parked everything worked fine, I did rebuild the headlight motors, next day when I installed the motors back I wanted to try them but the car had no power, this time my wipers, interior lights, tailllights etc didn't work, I checked all the fuses, bought new ACC fuses, all the harness connections,

Today I cleaned the battery cable terminals as you recomended but no luck.

The battery its brand new, maybe its dead already after checking all power locks, windows, wipers, lights, headlights motors, I was going on and off to make sure all the motors work fine.

I killed the battery right? or Is it something else?

I was happy, running with my kid when the car came alive after 10 years.

 

I just did something else today, I tried to start the car with my other car connecting the jumper cables but not even the dash lights came on or the lights under the dash when I open the doors.

Any ideas Why I am not getting power if the first time everything worked fine?

 

I changed the battery cables terminal studs,the were corroded very bad what can you expect after ten years sitting in a backyard , cleaned all the ground connections, charged the battery fusible links are good and voila, power its back.