For a little background info: 87 iroc, less than 5k on the rebuilt. All new mechanically. Driving on the freeway my volt meter dropped to the red and the car still ran fine. I got home and realized the fans would not turn off for some reason(with the car shut off), so I manually disconnected them and went to bed. The next morning the car wouldn't start and the battery was dead. I charged it, still wouldn't start. I found that my positive cable had grounded on my header and burned through a bit. I taped it up and off to the side and checked all of my fuses, they were fine. So I crawl under the car and jump the solenoid, sparks and fuel pump priming, no cranking. Great I think, my starter is dead.

On to today: I finally got jack stands and a jack from home to replace the starter. I connect the battery, no dome lights, no door locks, no windows, no SES when key turned to on, no radio. When I put the key in I get the ringing sound that always happens to let you know that you just put the key in. Turning the key makes the guages max out like normal, but no cranking or accessories still. Of course I forgot my voltmeter at home, so I can't check for power anywhere right now.

Any ideas? I was thinking something else got burned up or shorted out, but what? I'm gonna take the battery out later and have it checked again, and maybe buy a cheap voltmeter.

 

A fusible link

 

I second the fusible link suggestion. Trace your wires near battery and starter and check any fusible links. If they are bad they may look melted or pulling on both sides of the wire they could come apart easily. Also make sure your cable isn't burned too far through to allow a current flow. Replacing wires with the insulation worn away is always a good idea. Hope this helps.

 

Great. I was thinking that. Thanks guys.

I pulled on all the wires and nothing fell apart. From the sparks, I'd think current could definitely get through there. I thought the starter would spin when I jumped the solenoid even if a fusible link was bad, since the pump primed and it sparked. Oh well. I guess I'll check out the wiring when I'm down there.

 

One more thing.. while I'm waiting for a ride

How do I know what amperage link to get?

 

damn i was going to say fuseable link, just check it with a light, if the test light is lit 99.9% chance the fuseable link is intact and not your problem.

 

Mom forgot the test light and voltmeter when she brought the jack stands I'll go buy one when I can get a ride, though. Thanks ede.

 

UPDATE:

I got under the car and disconnected everything to the starter and checked it out. All of the fusible links had little black cylindrical connectors on them. I'm not sure if that's stock or a fix the previous owner did. When stripping the wires I noticed that the wire going to the black plastic connecters were thicker than the ones leaving to the starter. Anyway, one of them was melted in half, but it looked like electricity could still flow through. There was also a hole in the side of the link. So I cut the bad section and connected the two. My positive cable doesn't look bad at all. But I found something new. Apparently my negative cable got sucked into the smog pump pulley and it's cut almost in half. I taped it up, but it doesn't look great(I cut myself on the copper wire inside sticking out).

Now, I checked each fusible link(and every connection from the battery) and nothing was hot. All I'm going by is a test light, though. The negative cable is looking pretty bad, but it's still large enough to work until I can get a new one. The chassis ground didn't blow, so I think the engine one is fine.

So what is it that would cause all of my problems, besides a fusible link? It's got to power the dome lights, radio, either the ignition switch or power to the starter, the fuel pump, the computer.. My test light lights when I connect it to the battery terminals, but the battery was charged last week and has no even been connected since then, so I think it should be fine.

 

I finally got around to rechecking everything, and after fixing about 5 wires that appeared to be burned or broken, but probably didn't really hurt anything, my girlfriend said, "What's that green stuff?" And so I checked and the ground wire to my alternator had completely melted through a butt connector that was used there(a yellow one) and it had turned green. It turns out that this wire also melted two other ones to it. It was a real mess since all wires going to and from the alternator are bunched up. I didn't have time to fix it yet but I'm pretty sure that will make it work.

And so I've learned that rewiring half of your electrical system before having your girlfriend check over everything is a bit foolish. I probably could have fixed this in an hour, had I carefully traced everything over.

 

Well I fixed the wiring today and the car still wouldn't start. I checked with my test light and the battery only lit it about halfway, so I took it back to the parts store and realized that the *******s just told me it was good because they didn't want to give me a new one. They even argued that its normal for a battery to lose its charge completely over the course of one week while just sitting disconnected Anyway, I managed to get them to replace it and the car started up fine. I just need to replace the battery cables before I'm 100% confident that it will be fine again.

 

Sounds like you've found all your problems. Good show! 100 Points for the sharp eyed girlfriend seeing that dead ground wire connector. I am still trying to get my girlfriend to check her own oil! lol!

 

Rezinn,

Didn't your GF tell you NOT to use butt connectors and crimp splices in your system without solder and shrink tubing? Maybe she's holding that one back for next time.