Last week i took my 86 (vin G, carb'd) Camaro out for a drive. I made it a mile or so and everything shut off and my car died. When i open the doors the interior lights come on, and i still have headlights. But no power to the dash, radio, windows, or anything like that.

I did manage to melt a connector on the passenger side that normally mounts above the a/c box. (i have the box out to replace it with a non a/c box). Anyways, i cut the old connector off and soldered a new male&female connector on, thinking that was the problem, but i still have no power to interior and cannot crank the engine.

It also appears that the connector on a relay (not sure if its for the a/c system or starter) on the passenger side got a little hot because the red wire on it has some insulation melted off. I tested for power on all 4 pins key on & off and it has none. Can anyone help me out? If i need to take pics of anything please let me know. Thanks in advance.

 

when this happened to me (vin G, carb'd, different year and model), it was a wire in between the fusible link (which was fine) and the fuse block wiring underhood. Luckily, a previous-owner had crimped in a length of wire, one of the crimps had gotten hot and it was fairly easy to find and fix.

If you're lacking power on multiple fuses (refer to owners manual for quick ref.) that's probably it.

 

Check the wires coming up off the starter. There's a fuseable link down there that sometimes goes bad.

 

All the fusible links near the starter appear to be ok. I think i counted 3 and none of them look melted. As for the one near the fuseblock, where is that one? you mentioned underhood, but where? There is only power to the Acc fuse and Tail fuse. all the others have no power running to them.

 

It's gonna be up to you to find where.

The service manual wiring diagrams show where power is fed to groups of fuses. I found which wire it was by reading those. Then I verified lack of continuity with a volt meter; pointy end pointed into the underhood fuseblock side and grounded to fender.

 

there is a fuse block under the hood?! i understand what you are saying about tracking down the source by checking continuity. just a little confused. guess its time to bust out the multimeter and start checking everything

 

Some models have a small fuse block under the hood. My 84 does not. you'll need to get a HELM manual or equivilent and track it down. Unless you want to spend hundres of $$ at the dealership as they're really the only ones with the books on these cars any more.

 

Not a "fuse block underhood."

I'm just referring to the wiring that goes from the fusible links to the large multi-wire drivers side connector at the firewall that's basically right in front of the fuse block.

There is a limited number of large gauge wires underhood that feed that connector. Some of them may have red insulation.

Question 1 is - are you lacking power at multiple fuses?

If yes, can you poke into the large gauge wires going to that connector to see if they have 12v?

That's a couple easy steps with your volt meter that don't require the Helms service manual yet.

 

Speaking of the svc. manual...

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/elec...ic-wealth.html

Maybe start with pwrDist2.jpg

 

@jmd Yes it's lacking power to multiple fuses. The only ones with power are the Acc and Tail fuses. Ill check voltage for the larger gauge wires next chance i get, been out of town and haven't gotten a chance to do anything for a few days

 

Got it handled! Most of the fusible links i've ever seen go bad melted completely, turns out one coming off of the starter melted the wires inside, gave it a good tug and it just snapped. Replaced it with a new fusible link and she's as good as new! Thanks for the help guys, much appreciated

 

I had the same issue a couple years ago, the one on the starter broke after I went over a bump and the whole car died. It's absolutely no fun chasing electrical issues. I'm glad we could help!