Believe it or not, it's been a while since I posted a problem! Good ol' 7's...

Anyway, I got in my car to go for a ride, turned the key on, and had power. Then, I started the engine, but once the starter kicked in, the power went out. The headlights and doorlights still work, but there's no dash or turn key power.

I checked EVERY single fuse, replaced the main fuse (previous owner had installed a 100amp instead of the correct 80amp), but am still without turn key power.

Does this sound like the ignition switch?

 

Battery is dead,or not enough power.the Cable connections are dirty or not tight enough.check the Ground to the Bell housing,rear of engine.That connector uses the starter bolt(longest one) as a Ground..Also Clean the starter Connections up,and the Alternator connections..IF the fuse is OK,then doing this should By Rights get your car going.

 

I'll give that stuff a shot, but I seriously don't think that it's my grounds. It's a recently built engine, and most of the connections have been cleaned before reassembly. The engine bay was painted, however, so some grounds aren't great.

I did sand down and reattach the bell housing ground.

I did put in a new battery.

I doubt that these things are what's leading to no dash lights or turn key power.
I'm still leading toward ignition switch, so as soon as it's not hotter than ***** outside, I'll switch my switch from the n/a car.

 

Go to the car. Turn the headlights on. Do they come on bright? Yes? Now turn the ignition swithch to Start. Lights still bright or did the dim and stay dim even after you let the key go back to just ON?

IF the headlights stayed fully bright when you went to Start, then most likely the power to the igniton key that is lost. IF the headlight won't even go up and stay bright, then the battery cables are corroded or the gnd wire from the battery to the starters long bolt is not attached go or at all.

 

I replaced the main fuse and checked all other fuses.

I put the key in and had power! Then I tried to start the car again, and the same thing happened; instead of hearing the starter kicking in, all I get is *click* and loss of all power. Even headlights and doorlights.

Any clues?

 

I'll give that a try, HAILERS, thanks.

 

Being ****-retentive, I replaced a non-blown main fuse with a fresh one and still am not getting any power. Why would the car give power some times and not at all other times?

Still gotta check out my starter ground...

This ever happen to any of you?

 

You NEED to do the headlight *thing* I mentioned above. Get in the car. Turn the headlights ON, key OFF. The headlights should come up and light up.

So, say they did, NOW turn the key to START. Now answer: did the headlights stay bright when you HELD the key to START? or not.

IF the headlights stayed bright when you went to START, then most likely the wire that carries power to the ignition switch is *open*, not supplying power. IF that were the case, you'd have no starter action plus no instrument gauge lights, idiot lights.

The main ground wire comes off the battery negative post. Along the way, it splices off and goes to a ground point just below the left strut tower. Front left strut tower. Then it continues on to the long bolt on the stater. It MAY go to another bolt on the engine/transmission attach points. Large cable. IF you have that ground wire attached good, that should supply enough of a gnd to get the starter working plus other items mentioned.

EDIT: NO turn key power is a loss of power from the engine bay fuse box. There is ONE wire, colored BLACK that runs from six inches below the engine bay fuse box, to the ignition switch wire leads. It is still colored BLACK at the ignition switch leads. I believe it's coupled with a black/white wire at the igniton switch leads/connectors. That single wire feeds the ignition switch. You will have headlights and retraction of the lights etc without that power to the ignition switch. The headlights are powered from another *bus* other than the one powered by the ignition switch.

IF you go start with the key, and hear no relays being pulled in, then most likely you have lost the power from that single black wire.

 

check the solenoid wire.If that wire is not Getting 12 volts with the key on,then something is wrong...another thing..check the Clutch safety switch...and are you Trying to start the car IN Neutral with the clutch pedal pushed in?..(car won't start without the pedal pushed in).

 

Alright, so here's an update of what's happening with the power.

After the power **** out on me the second time:
The headlights don't want to pop up anymore.
The door lights turn on, but if I turn the key to power, the door lights fade out until I take the key back out.
Still no dash lights or accessory power.

The left-most wire on the starter wasn't even connected, but I connected it.



Still looking around for bad grounds.

I really want to drive...no, no, I really want to put my windows up in case it rains!

 

if that didn't fix it . tighten you battery cables mine does thing everyone once in awhile i wiggle my cables hit the connector onto the battery tight adn tyighten them down and wala power returns.(whats happening is the cord gets pulled slightly when you go to start and it pulls the conection to the battery loose. (so far most of my cars have done this.)

 

OH, Only one large cable goes on the starter. You've TWO in your jpg. Right????

Should not be that way. See attached jpg. Positive cable from the battery goes to "B". Note how B has a wire already attached to it coming from the body of the starter motor.

Nothing goes on "A".

"C" gets the small wire with a female blade connector.

The LARGE ground wire goes to the LONG STARTER BOLT. That bolt is the outboard bolt that holds the starter on.

 

How's the battery.... heh heh heh.

 

You should know, goofball. Remember? Yesterday when you dropped the battery from your car into mine, and suddenly it started right up? Remember that? That was awesome...
























I'm an idiot.