I took the 88 GTA out to the beer store about 4 hours ago. Never made it. I got about 1 mile, then the car totally died, and I coasted into a parking lot, and got towed back to my house.

Here are the symptoms :

Turning key to "on" results in absolutely nothing : No guages, no fuel pump sound.

Turning key to "start" results in absolutley nothing. No crank.

Only things that work are : Dome light. Parking lights. Horn.
When I turn on the parking lights, the dash lights come on. I can move the gear selector around when the key is in "on" position".

No brake lights.
No headlights.
No turn signals.
No radio.
No power windows.


I checked all fuses in fuse box. All are OK.


HELP! All clues welcome !!

 

It sounds like it may be the inline fuse down on the starter wires. Happened to me once too. Same simptoms.

 

Yep....an inline fuse, or more likely one of the fusible links off the starter terminal has either 'fried' or broken. There's usuually two on the terminal; one powers evrything that will work without the key being turned on (ie: lights, horn), and the other runs those things which operate with the key being in the 'ON' or 'ACC' position (ie: ignition, blinkers, radio).
Time to investigate...

Pete

 

yep, i second the fusible link, but more importantly, did you get the beer?

 

Nope. Still haven't bought beer, but I've been able to survive on my reserve supply. Down to 3 cans though , definitely need a beer run tomorrow, in my other car. GTA still laid up.

I just checked the fusible links at the starter. There were 3 of them, each about an inch long and pill-shaped. They all looked fine, no melting, nothing unusual at all. The only other thing I noticed around the starter was that there were some copper wire strands poking out from 2 wires where they got connected together to the starter.

The 2 fusible links at the battery look good too. All fuses in the fuse box are ok.

What now ? Any other fuses or links to check somehere ?

Thanks