Hello, I've recently pulled my motor to install a manual and cam. After a successful break-in with the motor in the car, everything stopped working...

1985 TA 305 TPI... whenever I go to start the car the starter will make a noise and then all power to the car will go out for 5 or so minutes. before trying to start the interior lights work but if you try more than that (like the headlights) it won't work.

What I've done: New summit mini starter, the battery is fine, all wires are getting proper voltage and ground, the park safety switch is fine, all fuses are good. Again the car worked quite literally a day before and I'm not sure what has changed.

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

Doesn't sound too terribly "mad" in any way. Pretty ordinary really.

Bad connection somewhere. Batt cables to batt, neg batt cable to block, pos batt cable to starter post, fusible links at the starter post, C100, ground strap braid between block and chassis. Check them all. In that order. Yes one of them is bad. No it doesn't matter what parts you've swapped.

 

Could you elaborate on the fusible links and C100?

Edit: I did some looking into the fusible links. I removed the one of them from a starter wire due to it being awful-looking. Should I add one back or did I fry something?

 

Not sure what you mean by "elaborate" butt I'll give it a try.

Fusible links are simply a smaller gauge piece of wire designed to act like a fuse. A fuse melts ("melt" being one of the definitions of the word "fuse") when its current limit is exceeded, thereby disconnecting the load that was drawing too much current. A fusible link ("meltable") does exactly the same thing. It's merely a section of wire of a smaller gauge, uually about 3 or 4 AWG sizes, than the wires it protects from catching fire; in your car, those wires, the Big Red Ones that feed battery power to everything (ign sw, hl sw, power accessories, etc) are #10 or #12, meaning the FLs are about #14 or #16. They have special insulation so that when the wire inside gets red hot and melts, the insulation survives (mostly). The factory used that system to avoid extra connections; since every connection is a point where corrosion can build up, spring tension can diminish as materials age, screws can get loose, etc. etc. etc., yerbasic "fuse" in a holder is ridiculously unreliable at the power levels at that point in a car. A fusible link is VASTLY more reliable.

Butt of course not "perfect". They can and do go bad sometimes in their own ways. Sometimes they wear through inside that little tube that protects them, sometimes they get water into their ends and corrode through, sometimes they get mechanically damaged by things like letting a starter motor hang by them, and so on. So they're WWWWWAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY better than standard fuses, butt still not infallible.

Yes if you "removed" one, you created a SERIOUS fire hazard. As in, a burn your car to the ground kind of a hazard. You should replace it properly: an uninsulated crimp butt spice, solder it with electronic (NOT plumbing) solder, then heat shrink and tape over that connection. If you can get the marine grade heat shrink with the adhesive inside it, that would be best. In fact it wouldn't be too much of a surprise if your "removal" left bad and intermittent connections which are now the root cause of your problem. You can buy new FLs hanging on cards at your corner parts store. You probably need "rust" colored ones; they're color-coded, and "rust" (a kind of dull reddish-brownish-orange) is the code for ones that belong in #12 wire. There are 2; I'd suggest going ahead and renewing both of them properly. PROPERLY being the operative concept here.

C100 is the giant connector going through the firewall right below your brake booster. Being a "connection", it can go bad like any other "connection", and cause this sort of thing to happen. Doesn't happen often butt it's not impossible. OTOH it sounds like you have some other things to attend to before you get that far so don't worry about that just yet.

 

Loss of Electrical Power after a High Amperage Load is indicative of an insufficient Ground Path/ Connection...

A missing or inadequate Ground Connection is highly probable.


I have often seen people trying to hunt down blown Fuses, failing to look at the Ground side of these Circuits (the Beginning of the Circuits).

 

I have seen a loose connection at the battery create an arc between the surfaces which results in carbon at the connection which impedes current flow... Temporarily.... Usually on the negative side....