I need help bad. About noon today while cruising down the street at about 35mph, THE ENGINE JUST STOPPED RUNNING. Power to the rqadio went away as well as the entire instrument guages. Turned off the key, coasted to a stop, and tried to restart it. Started fine, ran about 20 yards and dies again. Now it won't come back on at all.

Here's the diagnosising so far:

Will not work:
Power door locks
Instrument panel
Radio
Starting circuit
Brake lights
Alarm fob
Heater fan
Headlight mptprs

Works:
Dome light
Head and tail lights
Hatch pull down motor

Things noticed or checked:
Power is flowing to the alternator post, 12.3 volts
All fuses are fine
No found loose connections under dash
Power wire into ignition switch will just barely power on a test light very dimly, don't see any output signs according to diagrams
Starter has power at the lugs

Can someone suggest what to look for and where? I WAS SUPPOSED TO START ON A 2K MILE ROUND TRIP IN THE 'BIRD TOMORROW (WEDNESDAY) AFTERNOON......

 

what about blinkers, hazard lights, windshield wipers? Anything else?

What happens with the radio when you turn the switch back to the position that only turns on the radio?

I'm almost thinking it could be a bad ignition switch, ground disconnected somewhere, or power wire disconnected. Not really sure.

 

mine did the same thing and it was the fusible links down by the starter. Replaced them and all is good.

 

IMO, I would tend believe its a grounding problem in the ign sw harness. But its just my .02

 

if theres no power coming into the back of the fuse box, its going to be your fusable links... they're down by the starter in your car.


if power is getting into the car, and its just the ignition related stuff, id suspect the ignition switch... but you'd have to trace it down to tell exactly.


if you dont have any wiring diagrams, i have the 91 camaro ones online here ... if that helps ya.

 

Definitely fusible links.

There are 2 of them, maybe 3. Each one feeds a number of the circuits in the car. One of yours has burned out. Their most common failure mode is for the insulation to get brittle and old, and the wire inside them then touches that protective metal tube the wires go through right above the starter.

You can either try to find a direct replacement; or just use a piece of regular wire that's 3 or 4 gauges smaller (larger gauge #) than the big red wire it's protecting.

 

Thanks for the suggestions - here's an update.

I had the car towed to a 2nd shop last night, it set overnight, and then started just fine this morning. It's been running all day with only one glitch - after about an hour of idling it threw a check engine light, would barely run and would not idle at all, would not talk to Tunerpro nor Datamaster thru the ALDL ("no connection"), and a manual jumpering to extract the codes resulted in the "12" followed by 10 quick blinks of the light and then it stops (doesn't repeat the codes). We reset the computer by pulling the ground at the battery, and it came back up and has run for an hour since with no more problems.

I'm thinking the fusible links, but the mechanic say they look fine.

To answer the other symptoms questions:
- there was no power to the fuse box
- my clock on the radio does not come on when the car is turned off ('02 Monsoon head unit), and turning the key on when it's in it's "dead" state would not turn the clock on either.
- "Run" and "Accessory" positions of the ignition switch have the same result on everything
- I didn't try the turn signals, but the hazard flashers were also dead (so was the interior fan when set on high)
- I didn't try the wipers or horn

I have to leave town today for a week. THe car is staying in the shop, I made other travel arrangements. I'll revisit the F-L idea with the mechanic, and be checking this post and with him to see what develops. Intermittent problems like this are a b!tch. The current mechanic has yet to see the "full dead" state so he has little to go on.

Thanks again for all the ideas, and keep them coming!

 

still could be the fusable links.. they may have just shifted so they arnt currently shorting/open...

 

Well, I had them replace the fusible links, picked up the car last night when I got back in town. Everything had degraded to the point we couldn't reset the computer and clear the code 10 error. Had to reload the current BIN into my Ostrich to clear the check engine light and stop getting the code 10 when pulling error codes and get it to talk out the ALDL port. That code doesn't exist, yet this is the 3rd time that has happened with the Ostrich (same code). Hopefully the F-L replacement will solve the problem.....

 

So far the problem has not re-occurred.

Hopefully the fusible links was the problem (especially since I had them all replaced LOL)