i have an 87 TA with a 5.0 TPI and the other day i was sitting in front of my friends house waiting for him and it just shut off, now nothing works when i turn the key (gauges, windows, lights, ignition, etc.) the only thing that works is the dome light and other interior lights on the floor, the brake lights dont even work, i just pushed it a half mile back to my house and i have no idea what could be wrong, people have said a broken wire or blown fusable link. i thought ignition switch or blown fuse but i checked the fuses and all were good and i changed the ignition switch (helluva job) and still nothing. any ideas? i dont have the money to take it to a shop. thanks

Russ

 

Have you checked the battery, battery cables, and all of the groungd connections sound to me like it is something simple like possibly a loose connection or bad fuseable link possibly one of the wires on the starter I had something similiar happen to me one time on my 86 grand prix except it had a small electrical fire because someone had turned one of the wires form the starter towards the heat shiled and it wore though the insulation and butrnt though the wire that fed power to everthing in the car except fo one thing and it was the dome light I believe don`t remember for sure as it was like six years ago.

 

It's a fusible link at the starter. One of the 2 has probably melted through its insulation, shorted to the little metal tube, and blown. Happens all the time.

Don't hack your wiring, don't try to half-a$$ it somehow, don't doubt what I'm telling you (yes it's happened to me, exactly as you describe, down to the last detail, that's how I know), just pull the wires off the big starter terminal and replace the melted one.