So today my 1985 trans am decided to leave me stranded in autozone parking lot. I drove there without problems, car was running great, parked the car and went to buy some oil, after coming back to the car and trying to start it nothing happened, not even a click or attempt to turn over. All the gauges lit up and when Im trying to start the car temp gauge pegs, brake light and check engine light comes on. Ive checked the codes and nothing.
So my question is, what can it be? Auto tranny safety feature messed up or starter/starter solenoid stuck/broken. I cant be anything else(tried to jump start it without luck) Anyone have any Ideas? thank you.

 

Bummer. Hope it decided to co-operate, or you got it towed.

That would be the 'lamp test' function, happens every time you crank it, you really only notice at times like these.

Since you have power to the cabin, sounds like battery cables and fusible links are probably ok (not gauranteed tho).

Sounds like you are on the right track. Can you short the start terminal on the starter to the positive cable and get it to crank (careful don't short to ground)?

 

yeah, like treefiddy said, try starting at the starter itself and see if it turns over. Sounds like a bad ignition switch possibly

 

So i fixed it today,end up being a starter,couple of taps with a hammer and she runs once again,checked transmission sensor connectors,ignition before checking the starter, went to the junk uard and pulled a starter from one of the trans ams there, took me 30min to figure out how to pull it lol and yeah i had to pay for the towing yesterday

 

Whats the point of getting junkyard starter? You have no idea how much useful life it has. It may do the exact same thing again next week and then you'll be paying for another tow. New starters with 1 yr warranties are like 50 bux at Autozone.

 

Out of all seriousness, you fixed it and didn't pay someone else to fix it. I say that in itself was worth the experience. One step forward to knowing your car front to back.

 

yeah i wanted to get one from autozone but the one i got from trans am looks to be in like new condition, nice and clean, like it was replaced by last owner and it only cost me 20 bucks so will see, hope it will work good lol. Yeah I was working on this car for a while now, replaced all the sensors, header gaskets, adjusted timing etc, next project would be a new set of injectors and hoping that she will run like from the factory floor

 

Not gonna run like it came off the floor with used parts.

 

Way to go man!

Don't listen to some of these people, we all know some new parts don't work / work worse than some of the "used" stuff. For instance, replaced quite a few ford window motors with their "updated design" brand new from the stealership...smaller solenoid, and works terrible (slower up/down) when compared to older "used" parts.

If it works, and it doesn't look worn / corroded good for you!