I was driving my Camaro with a 350 engine after redoing the exhaust on it. While driving down the road the tach fluttered, and then all the electrical components failed on the car. the engine still ran, but all my dash lights went out, the door locks and windows would not work, light do not work. The only thing that works is the high beams come on, but do not stay on. I am getting 12 volts to the alternator stud, and the distributor. The starter and solenoid buts are tight, as are all the grounds. what can cause a complete electrical problem. yes the battery is charged.

About the car:
1985 Camaro Berlinetta.
Engine swapped to 350, all electronics and emissions off the vehicle.
Street fires distributor.
The ignition wire went bad, so i ran a new switch/ignition wire.

thanks for your help

 

starter and solenoid bolts*

 

have you checked all of your fuses? have you checked the fuseable link coming up from the solenoid? Have you checked the ground behind the motor since this was an engine swap? Sometimes the ground that goes from the motor to the firewall behind the passenger side head comes loose on an engine swap. if that happens all kinds of screwy things can happen.

 

Since you mentioned just doing some exaust work, make sure you didnt get a pipe close to a wire somewhere and it got hot enough to burn through the insulation and short out. Always go back to the last thing you changed before the problem on something like this. It sounds like that, and if thats not the case, a ground issue somewhere. But most likley i believe you will find a bare wire that has shorted everything out. The reason your motor runs and you have power to the alternator is because its not going through the original harness since the engine and ignition have been changed. You can also try checking to make sure your getting power to the fuse box as well. hope this helps a little.

 

I checked the ground behind the engine that runs from the intake to the firewall. All the fuses in the panel are fine. It did burn about a 10 gauge red wire in half, repaired that and nothing happened. the only fusible link i can find is right near the battery, and the one going to the hood light. they are both fine. I did find out that the high beams will come on when the button is pushed, but not stay on. This is the only electrical item working on the car. I took the junction box off the firewall and checked it for melted part and such, seemed everything was normal. Any other ideas.

Thanks for your help so far. This is really annoying, id much rather build a motor then chase down electrical...

Joe

 

Check the wires down on the starter solonoid. Sometimes when you run new exhust, it runs closer to the wires there and melts through them causing a massive power outage. Since the motor still runs, I'd tend to think now, but...still worth checking. Especially since there is new wiring run as indicated. Factory, there is a fuseable link down there that if it goes out, you lose power to everything, can't even turn the engine over. However, you may have burned through one of the other wires. Anyway, just a thought.

 

Ok, I will check those some time this week. Thanks

 

It ended up being the lower fuseable link. Sorry for the late answer.