1990 Firebird V6.

All fuses good, grounds good, fusible links good, battery good.

He started the car and moved it, shut it off. Went to start it again, it got two truns by the starter and died, power to nothing.

I checked the big red coil wire, no power to it, and I checked the wire on the alt, not the real big one, but the smaller red wire that plugs into the regulator, no power to it either.

If I jump power to either of the two wires I just mentioned, everything works.

Is the wire that plugs into the voltage regulator supposed to be hot? Or only when the engine is running? It's a brand new reman alternator.

 

Mac,

There is a fusible link in that large wire to the alternator output (the one on the output stud). That wire should have battery voltage at all times. If I understand you correctly, there is no power there now.

If that was not your question, then no, the wire at the reulator connection should not have power until the ignition is ON.

BTW - Did you check the connections at the starter? How about the main positive power node mounted on the fender? Just askin'...

------------------
Later,
Vader
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"Let the bodies hit the floor!"
Adobe Acrobat Reader

 

There IS power at the stud on the alternator.

And there is power at the junction block, I checked every individual wire at the block, before and after the fusible links I could see.

 

The wire that ISN'T bolted to the stud on the alternator, the same one that plugs into the voltage regulator, did not have power when the ignition was on.

I haven't checked the starter, there's a swarm of mosquitos out there.

 

I have seen a similar problem on an S-10
Blazer. It had a defective positive battery
cable! It would pass power most of the time,
but sometimes it would leave the owner stranded. When I clamped a jumper cable from the starter end to the positive post every
thing worked properly. I replaced the cable
and the problem went away.

 

I too suspected the faulty battery cable, but There were none of the telltale signs, bulging and green corrosion.

We got the car fixed, turns out, the brass stud on the solenoid was loose, so I tightened the stud and slapped some dielectric grease on the ring terminals.

 

Did you check the fuse that (on my two cars at least) is mounted on the fender in a little cap near the battery? You probably did but some people might not know that thing is there or forget about it.

Also, I had a similar problem a couple weeks ago with no power getting anywhere other than the battery (my problem was related to heat). My starter solenoid was doing something funky when hot, killed all power for like 5 minutes. Had power at the battery but nothing else worked, no fuses blown, and the power would come back on it's own after 5 minutes. If it hadn't cooled enough it would do the same thing the second I hit the ignition to crank er again, did this repeatedly. Wait a few minutes and power returned everytime. Solid 12 volts at battery through all ths. Your problem could be related to that same type of thing since the problem popped up while trying to crank. I assume my problem was bad wiring inside the solenoid or something similar. Whatever the case something solenoid related (remote mount solenoid fixed it) can kill the power to the whole car without blowing any fuses... Sounds like it could be something similar for you.

Not much help at all if any, just some ideas to think about and it'll move this post BTTT.

------------------
Ray87Z
-Vortec headed 350.
86 IROC w/ a cammed 305 TPI.
Formerly Ray86IROC.
www.inter-scape.com/Ray

[This message has been edited by Ray87Z (edited August 12, 2001).]

 

Ray, that fuse you refer to was the first thing I checked

It was a loose starter terminal.

 

Sure am glad I didn't see you fixed it till after I posted, lol. Oh well. Hey I had the right area though, starter/solenoid related...

------------------
Ray87Z
-Vortec headed 350.
86 IROC w/ a cammed 305 TPI.
Formerly Ray86IROC.
www.inter-scape.com/Ray

[This message has been edited by Ray87Z (edited August 12, 2001).]