i was driving down the country road and it was raining out and all the sudden all my gagues go out and i couldnt really hear if the engine died or not so i just put it in neutral and killed it and then tried starting it again, but it wouldnt start........here is what works right now....my parking lights,interior lights,illumination dash lights,and the locks just click. here is what doesnt work.....none of my gauges move when i turn the key to the ON position,headlights,stereo,hazard lights,the starter doesnt even click and the lights dont dim when i try and crank it.....i checked all of the fuses under the dash and they all seem to b fine.......what could b wrong....is there somewhere else where it could have grounded out and blown something else like a relay,circuit breaker??......what could cause all these things not to work at the same time???

please help cuz last time somone's car broke down on that road, someone went up to it that night and jacked the system and stuff outta it and smashed all of the windows.....i REALLY dont want that to happen to my car!!


p.s. i heard that it could be my altenator?......or do u think that the bolt that holds on the power cable to the starter fell off?

 

I had that happen before and it was the coil. Previous owner had moved the factory coil and mounted it to the firewall. I never thought about checking it and one day it came loose and the coil fell. Now I don't know if it got wet, or if it just died,(it was raining that day) but I had to get another coil. Then it worked just fine.

 

Check for a cracked distributor cap.

 

I had the coil die on my car before, well 4 times to far, now I have an MSD coil and it hasn't given me trouble since. . . when mine died tho everything worked except I wasn't getting spark thats it.

 

hey fella's he says it wont even click..........I dont think ignition problems will keep it from turning over. I would check your charging system Battery and cables..starter cables...and the altenator, boy can I spell tonight or what

 

yah i know its not the battery cuz that other stuff works....and we tried jumping it and it didnt do anything.....i think there is a short somwhere or somethign like that.....

 

thats what it sounds like to me.....even a dirty post will do what you are describing...If you have poor connections, a jump wont do it either..seems if it was the battery or alternator you would still be able to jump start it, it just wouldn't hold a charge. Sounds like a loose connection somewhere to me.
Be sure and post what ya find, hope your car is safe, Mine died right in the middle of one of the buisiest intersections in town during rush hour. Everyone was honking and honking...I was pushing and pushing, gotta tell ya these cars are heavy.....anyway, my problem WAS ignition, but the car would crank over it just wouldn't fire....

 

i have had previous experiences with bad connections so i already checked the posts and cleaned them.....didnt fix it.......this is really starting to **** me off.....now basically nothing works.........everything that i havent installed customly is not working.......the only things that work now are my foglights and my fan.......everything else is just dead
and we have been charging the battery for the last 2 days and we tested it........its good to go its just there is something wrong............

 

Do you have a security system on the car if so it might be the starter kill.

The only time I have had a vehicle do that it was the ignition module. But that obviously isn't your problem if it won't even turn over.

 

DId you check the wiring to the ignition switch or the ignition switch itself? All of those accessories, along with the engine's ignition and ECM, you listed get power when the ignition is in the "ON" position, so if the contacts in the switch are worn or there is a broken/loose wire down the line....

 

I think Redfirebird is on to something.....

 

nothing happened when i turned the key to the on position

and now nothing at all happens........no lights or anything......the only things that work are the fan and fog lights and i installed those and they are connected directly to the battery........

 

could the wires inside the ignition terminal itself be corroded, like the thing on the steering wheel. . . also, if you get under the car make sure the park/neutral or clutch safety switch wire is attached the the terminal on the starter selinoid, think some one already mentioned that tho

 

Check the connections on your ignition coil and to your distributor? Your battery is probably dead now, and your alternator may be bad as well.

 

Sounds like it could be a fusible link. Check the wiring that goes to the starter solenoid. Fusible links will come apart when they go, so give a tug on all of the wires individually.

 

Have you tried just taking a screw driver and putting it over top of the two post on the starter. Just to see if the starter still works and it will turn over. At least then you know its not your starter and you know that it will start and you can rule out the distributor cap, wires, plugs, coil, basically everything that makes the engine run lol :-p uh Im not positiive if its the same on the camaro but on a buick century with a 2.8 Liter engine there was a wire that when not connected to the post on the starter would not let any of the componets on the interior of the car work such as the interior lamp and gauges. Check that Im not positive about what exactly your problem is but I am pretty positive it doesn't have anything to do with your battery and alternator especially if youve been charging it for 2 days. Good Luck I know what its like to be stranded it sucks if your still stuck on what to do next keep asking questions I know the people on here are more then willing to help you out.

 

Could possibly be the ground strap that goes from the engine to the frame. There should be 2 ground straps to the engine, one that goes from the battery to somewhere on the front of the engine, then another which goes from the back of the engine to the firewall. If there is a break in either one, It could cause all the sending units not to work and the starter not to work. I would take some jumper cables, clamp one end to the negative bettery terminal, and the other to some xposed metal on the engine. Then turn the key on and see if the gauges or anything works and if it will crank over. I would not be sursprised if the negative bettery terminal is corroded where it bolts to the engine. My friends 65 mustang did this and the whole damn car was dead, nothing would work.

 

hey it was one of the fuseable links that run off of the starter..........so my car is running again........thanks for the help........

 

Glad to hear it!!