Hot Rod Forum banner

75 Monte ran fine, now nothing

8K views 18 replies 5 participants last post by  lt1silverhawk 
#1 ·
Hey all;
Yesterday was the first time taking the Monte out for some cruise nights. Thing has been running great, nicely tuned and been awesome lately. I get on the street, about 2 blocks away from the garage and in some traffic. I gave her some gas to try to get over at some point and she just straight died. I throw to neutral and try to crank and nothing happens. I coast her off the street to a side street and popped hood. Everything looks fine.

Long story short, figure out I had absolutely no power. Battery is fully charged (tested it) and all connections from it look fine and solid. I have no lights, no horn, no cranking, straight up no power at all. I checked fuses under the dash and those are all good. All grounds are good as well.

Any ideas on why nothing is working? I would expect the horn to work at least... and got nothing. I'm headed over little later to give it a quick look, but honestly stumped.
Thanks
 
#2 ·
While I am assuming you have already check it, I will still suggest you check the battery terminals. I have experienced the no-cranking, no power to anything before and it turned out to be a bad or loose terminal. The looked fine, but when I messed around with them, was when I found out there was a problem.

I will admit that I'm not sure if my suggestion relates to the car turning off suddenly though.

By the way, do you have an electric fuel pump?
 
#3 ·
The negative terminal was a wee-tad loose when I checked it. However, I haven't touched the terminals in about 2 weeks, and car has had no problems before. But even after tightening them up, there was no change. I will clean the terminals later, but the battery is brand new, and the wires have been cleaned not too long ago.

FP is mechanical
 
#5 ·
lt1silverhawk said:
Ok, keep us posted. Hopefully other members with chime in soon with better ideas. I was reading over your earlier threads and it seems like you have had to do alot of work with the wires on this car.
Ya electrical was a nightmare when I bought it. But once I had it figured out, haven't had any issues since until now.
Thanks for helping though! Really appreciate it. Anyone else got any ideas?
 
#7 ·
Is your car equipped with a fuseable link at the starter?

Positive cable goes to starter, then a wire with the fuseable link feeds off the main starter terminal to supply the rest of the car with power. If the fuseable link goes bad, no power to car. Test for power at starter.
do you have a chassis service manual(as used by the dealership), it will have complete wiring diagrams.
 
#8 ·
FmrStrtracer said:
Is your car equipped with a fuseable link at the starter?

Positive cable goes to starter, then a wire with the fuseable link feeds off the main starter terminal to supply the rest of the car with power. If the fuseable link goes bad, no power to car. Test for power at starter.
do you have a chassis service manual(as used by the dealership), it will have complete wiring diagrams.
I have a Haynes book... will check in that. Would that link be inside the car or the engine bay? Or vaires?
 
#10 ·
helrazr3 said:
its in the wire that goes from the battery to the starter. it should be easy to trace. there may be more than one but they will be right in the area of the battery
Ok I'll check that out. I know that wire from Positive to starter is a very thick and braided-looking wire. Like its wrapped with almost header wrap.
 
#13 ·
I'm out here working right now... I have 12v everywhere at battery, at alternator, at voltage regulator... seems pretty good in the bay. Not sure what wires to check under the dash though. All fuses under there are good. Still nothing at all working.
 
#15 · (Edited)
At the big post on the starter you will have the battery wire as well as 2-3 red 10gauge wires the last 4 inches will be fuse link, also terminating at that same post. one or more of those fuse links are burned out. you can get the fusable link wire at the part store, do NOT solder these back in,only crimp. The red wires other end will terminate at various places, one being the back of alt, another at the blower relay, and another at the fuse box.
 
#16 ·
HalfOunce said:
At the big post on the starter you will have the battery wire as well as 2-3 red 10gauge wires the last 4 inches will be fuse link, also terminating at that same post. one or more of those fuse links are burned out. you can get the fusable link wire at the part store, do NOT solder these back in,only crimp. The red wires other end will terminate at various places, one being the back of alt, another at the blower relay, and another at the fuse box.
Thanks everyone for their help. This was the problem. Took off header and ran a new link. Fired right up. AutoZone carries them, about $4 each.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top