Here's a deal for you.

Disconnect the positive terminal on the batt.

Look at the engine bay fuse box. The MAIN FUSE is in the middle and is a 100a or 80a fuse. One or the other. That fuse is held in with two 10mm socket size bolts. You have to pull a plastic tab out of the way to see those bolts.

Find the bolt on the front side of the fuse box. DO NOT undo the bolt that holds the MAIN FUSE in, but look directly below that bolt (half inch approx) where you find another 10mm bolt holding a cable to the fuse box. THAT cable comes from the batterys positive cable. IT feeds the fuses on that ENGINE BAY fuse box, which in turn feed most other things in the car.

Make sure that cable is tightened down. Snug is fine. Do not break anything by over torquing. Then put the batt positive cable back on. Turn the headlights on. They should go up and light up. IF NOT, wiggle that cable thats being held down with the 10mm bolt. See it they now work or............not. IF NOT, then the battery is dead or the cable fittings are kaput. NO if's ands or buts.

Or if we're not into ifs, ands and buts.......run a wire b/t the batt Positve post and that nut I described and then turn the headlights on. Should come up and light up. I mean, that's all there is to it.

That cable attached to the fuse box by that 10mm bolt, comes off the cable on the batt positve post. Like I said in a earlier post, the positive post has two cables, one large, one small. Small goes to the engine bay fuse box to feed the busses. Get on the bus.

WARNING, WARNING, WARNING.........remember to remove the batt positive cable prior to messing with the bolts/cables on the engine bay fuse box. You don't want to arc anything or blow a main fuse etc. Only put the batt positive cable back on when your through messing with the fuse box/bolts.

 

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I asked if u had an alarm because my car did exacly the same thing you are talking about. i dont know if it could happen with factory alarm, but my alarm acted as a cut of swith, when it felt like it and made me lose all power. Disconnected the alarm and its like nothing ever happened. its working great. hope that helps.

 

I wasnt able to work on the car, but I will check it out once I get home. I'll try what you suggested Hailers and get back to you.

I don't believe there is an after market alarm system on the car. If I unplug the CPU by the driverside kick panel that should disarm/disable the factory alarm correct? Its an 89' and I think its 86-88 where they had the security brain on the passenger side?

 

Series five Theft is inside the CPU.

Series four Theft is a unit located next to the speaker under the glove box.

I"m sticking with my thoughts that it can't be the Theft because your headlights won't go up/down. I don't think the Theft system could cancel that out. Then I know little about theft units. Don't care to learn either.

I'd approach the car and put the headlights to UP. Then if they don't come up, wiggle the batt cables and then the cable I showed in the other post of mine, that shows the BATT FEED cable attached to the engine bay fuse box. Just wiggle it a bit and see if the lights don't come up and light. No cost involved.

 

sorry its been raining here and my car has been outside so i havnt had the chance to work on it until today.

Hailers on the fusebox there are two black wires that come off the main fuse. one on the side you showed me a picture of and there is one directly on the otherside. should i be receiving 12v from both wires? one wire is black with a white the other one is all black. i tested the wires and i am only getting 12v from one of the wires (the all black wire).

 

The black wire shown in my picture, which is located on the FRONT side of the engine bay fuse box, is the power wire coming from the batterys positive post.

The wire on the aft side of the fuse box should/would not have power unless the wire on the front was connected up AND the Main fuse was installed.

My Main Fuse is not installed in that jpg I attached.

The rear wire won't have power until the Main fuse is installed and the front wire is attached. Did I already say that? yes

So. You have power on the front wire according to You. Hook it up to the engine bay fuse box. Turn the headlights ON. They should go up and light up unless there is a blown headlight fuse(s) OR the black wire at the front of the engine bay fuse box has a bad connection at either end i.e positive batt post or at the fuse box bolt.

Lights won't light with all the wires connected up? Put a meter on that black wire on the front of the fuse box and see if it has batt voltage or not. Should, all day long and all week long. Comes right off the battery.

With all the wires connected to the fuse box, you should be able to pull all those fuses out. Then check for batt voltage at the FRONT side of the receptacle that held those fuses in place. Batt voltgae at all those fuses.

Are you implying that you have batt voltage at the black wire at the front of the engine bay fuse box, and when you turn the headlights on with all the fuses in the box and all wires connected up, that your headlights won't come on? That mostly can't happen unless the headlight fuse(s) are kaput or the black wire is not making good contact with the box.

Does your engine bay fuse box look like MIne? Say you look and see the black/green wire below the box in my jpg. Is your fuse box like that. Black/green wire in the same place as mine? I mention this because Jimmy Dimwit, who previously owned my car, had the box installed assbackwards for very unknown reasons. Reasoning was not his strong point.

 

my front wire and rear wire to the fusebox were swapped for some reason. this didnt cause any problem before but i just swapped them back so its normal now. also i do get a constant 12v from the wire that comes from the battery to the fusebox. i had gained power throughout the whole car and i tried to start the car but once i turned the ignition to ON to crank the car i would hear one click and lose power everywhere again. and yes my fusebox does look like yours

 

Gotta be a battery terminal or the other end of the batt neg cable isn't connected good.

Next time that happens....click and no power..turn the headlights on. If they don't go up, go to the engine bay fuse box and jiggle that black wire at the front of the fuse box. If that does not make the lights come up, wiggle the batt cables and see if the lights come up and light up.

Well, darn, I'm almost tempted to go look at another car and see if that wire from the batt goes to the front or rear of the engine bay fuse box. THAT IS NOT YOUR PROBLEM, THOUGH.

 

ill try it tomorrow, its too dark to see right now. but i think the last time i tried it the headlghts no longer worked when i lost all power. even when i jiggled the wires.

 

i managed to push the car into the garage and jiggled the wires a bit after i lost power and i still don't have power. however there is still power going to the fuse (12.5v). im starting to think there is a kill switch that keeps being activated somewhere. anyone know where "common" security alarm systems are hooked up to?

 

The series five Theft unit is located in the CPU. Undo the plugs on the CPU and it's disabled. The series five jpg attached shows where the input/output wires go.

THEFT does not disable the headlights nor the horn. Both should work. Honk the horn.

THEFT will flash the headlights. It will not disable the headlights. Nor will it disable the horn. It will honk the horn, not disable the horn. So both items should work. Unless power from the batt isn't getting to the other side of the fuses in the engine bay.

 

How Stuff Works RX:

See the attached jpg of the interior fuse box. The fuses in Green are powered without the key being in the car.

Stop lights and horns are two. Step on the brake pedal and the stop lights should work or honk the horn and the horn should work. If they don't, then there is no power coming from the Engine bay fuse box to the interior box.

I colored the path in Green in one of the jpgs. It comes from a 60a BTN fuse, that has a W/R (white/red) wire coming out below it. So if those items don't work, you check that fuse for being good. If good, you pull it out and get a meter and check for volgtage on the fwd side of that fuse receptacle for power. IF it is not there, then the BLACK wire bolted to the fwd side of the engine bay fuse box is not supplying power to the engine bay fuse box from the battery positive post.

You mentioned the BLACK/WHITE wire on the aft side of the engine bay fuse box. That is fed by the 100a fuse and that wire feeds the ignition switches pure BLACK wire. It also feeds the two circuit breakers on the interior fuse box called Heater and Defrost. It is also spliced to the LARGE wire on the alternator. That large output wire on the alternator should have batt voltage on it with the key out of the car. It's easy to access, so I'd put a meter on it to see if it has batt power or not. If not, the MAIN fuse is busted OR the Main fuse is not being powered from the battery positive post.

No Theft device will prevent that line of fuses colored GREEN from working. The horn will be honkable, the Hazards will hazard and the headlights will headlight. Not a Theft problem. IF those items don't work, then the engine bay fuse box is not being powered from the batt positive post or the neg post of the batt is inoperable (loose connection at either end of it.)

And in passing, NO Theft devive an prevent ther being batt power on the LARGE output wire on the alternator. Check that for batt voltage and if it isn't there, then the Main fuse is busted or the Main fuse is not getting power from the battery positive post.

You might also take YOUR battery and put it in another car to see if it's any good. There could be an internal short on the cells that lets you see 12vdc on the posts, but when a load is on the battery, it kills the output. Something like that.

 

thanks HAILERS! i figured it out using the diagrams/pictures/suggestions you provided. i had a buddy come over and wiggle around with wires while i was turnin the ignition. it was actually a bad/loose connection of the BTN fuse and wire into the cabin. the fuse wasn't making good contact as well as the wire from that fuse into the cabin. thanks again for all your help and thanks for everyone else that gave suggestions