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ELECTRICAL ISSUE WITH STARTING

J

junkpile

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I have had this happen a couple of times at the in two weeks and its slightly frustrating.

69 charger,440, auto. Stopped to pick up my kid from a church event. I was at an afternoon cruise in and had no issues and went to pick up my kid. Now I go to leave, get in and absolutely nothing with the key. So i start thinking and I notice when I open the door I have no interior lights. So I check the battery connections (new battery), remove the cables, put them back on, car has interior lights and starts right up runs great. Now yesterday I took the car out, started fine took a short run, got gas, and when I went to leave the gas station, NO interior lights, so no start. Tried the same trick with the battery, did not work. Nice guy in a late 60's VW bus comes over (lucky he was out getting gas) offers me a hand, we check fuses, then he traces the wire from the battery to the starter realay and when he touched it the lights came on. I had him let go and the car started up. Thanked him for his help. When I got home and shut it down opened the car door, NO lights again, touched the realy and it all came on again.

now the connection at the relay are tight, but is this just a realy thats bad or is the the wiring coming from the positive terminal to the relay shot? I dont see coorsion on the wires at the connection points.

Let me know your thought guys, so I can fix it right.
 
My car did exactly the same thing for a short while. I replaced the battery cables, and the issue went away.
 
thanks. I was hoping I would not have to make another battery harness but if i must I must. besides I made the one in the car 18 years ago, so at least I know I can make a good one.
 
Check your bulkhead connector first.
Then the fusible link which comes from the starter relay stud to the bulkhead.
It's possible that your interior feed, the 10 gauge wire that goes to the starter relay stud has a problem internally.
As a test you could make a wire that goes from the battery end to the starter relay, 10 gauge stranded or larger and put it in parallel with the existing battery cable. If your problem goes away then you will need to replace the positive battery cable (starter end and interior feed).
 
Thanks again for that. The entire wiring harness in the engine bay was replaced just over a year ago, the fusable link still looks good and wire is plyable but we know that doesnt mean anything. I know I have a new relay somewhere and I can make a10g wire from the battery to the relay as a check. if that is the problem I will just make a new line from the battery to the relay. Once I get a chance i will check for corrosion at the relay connections and clean them up and replace the relay since i am taking everything off anyway.
 
I wouldn't be too quick to replace the starter relay.
Your problem does not seem to reside there, and all replacement part these days seem to be crappy.
I put a new one in my Satellite and it crapped out after about 10 starts, had to order another one.
 
I had a similar problem (well to some extent) finding my car wouldn't start unless holding the key in 'run' position. Did the typical checks for this issue along with some swearing and come to find my BH connection is loose; just lift the harness a bit and all go. My BH is crappy so someday a switch out is in order as the engine harness is new. Yeah poor connections corrosion, wear out at connections, etc. can be the culprit.
 
O.K. I hear ya. I got a distributor and voltage regulator that did that. I have a picture of the relay and wiring, to show that its all new but I will definately start with new wiring from the battery and possible just make a new harness for it.

close up relay .JPG
 
by new I meant wiring and bulkhead the relay is about 5 years old.
 
Check the ring connector on that blue wire.
 
I know about crappy small wiring problems, but when they are not used as often as they should be that corrosion can set in an throw them off. I had an issue with the orange box like that. Pulled it off the firewall, sanded the back of the box and around the screws, it worked great after that.
 
Try a voltage drop test on on your battery cables, then on the relay wire. You will have to be cranking to do a test. Wiggle that wire if it passes

Alternative, I've hooked up test lights to find stuff like that, just go wire to wire
 
Just an oddity I had similar to this over 35 years ago. I was experiencing the same no start on and off. Checked all connections and most times, after the wiggle test it would start right up. Well, I couldn't find anything wrong and the battery was less than a year old. It finally reared it's ugly head when I hit a bump while driving and everything went off and came back on again! It turned out that the battery was internally broken, must have been dropped before I bought it or just defective. Replaced it free (under warranty) and good to go!
 
multimopes said:
Just an oddity I had similar to this over 35 years ago. I was experiencing the same no start on and off. Checked all connections and most times, after the wiggle test it would start right up. Well, I couldn't find anything wrong and the battery was less than a year old. It finally reared it's ugly head when I hit a bump while driving and everything went off and came back on again! It turned out that the battery was internally broken, must have been dropped before I bought it or just defective. Replaced it free (under warranty) and good to go!
Click to expand...
Yes, I've had this before too
 
junkpile said:
O.K. I hear ya. I got a distributor and voltage regulator that did that. I have a picture of the relay and wiring, to show that its all new but I will definately start with new wiring from the battery and possible just make a new harness for it.

View attachment 867833
Click to expand...
First remove the 3 connectors at the bulkhead. Check for corrosion there and clean up any. Then with help firmly put the 3 connectors back on with the help of someone under the dash pushing outward on the bulkhead. I have has that problem a number of times in my old Mopars.
 
junkpile said:
I have had this happen a couple of times at the in two weeks and its slightly frustrating.

69 charger,440, auto. Stopped to pick up my kid from a church event. I was at an afternoon cruise in and had no issues and went to pick up my kid. Now I go to leave, get in and absolutely nothing with the key. So i start thinking and I notice when I open the door I have no interior lights. So I check the battery connections (new battery), remove the cables, put them back on, car has interior lights and starts right up runs great. Now yesterday I took the car out, started fine took a short run, got gas, and when I went to leave the gas station, NO interior lights, so no start. Tried the same trick with the battery, did not work. Nice guy in a late 60's VW bus comes over (lucky he was out getting gas) offers me a hand, we check fuses, then he traces the wire from the battery to the starter realay and when he touched it the lights came on. I had him let go and the car started up. Thanked him for his help. When I got home and shut it down opened the car door, NO lights again, touched the realy and it all came on again.

now the connection at the relay are tight, but is this just a realy thats bad or is the the wiring coming from the positive terminal to the relay shot? I dont see coorsion on the wires at the connection points.

Let me know your thought guys, so I can fix it right.
Click to expand...
Had this exact issue on the 69 Bee....exact...... grounding was the issue. I believe the block to firewall ground was a mesh type wire with mine, and created a lot of resistance. I replaced it with a beefier negative bat cable line. Solved it for good. Grounding is still a booger on every 67-70 I;ve ever owned.
 
o.k. everyone. got to play with the car this past saturday. checked the bulkhead connectors, all was good there. Starter relay checked out good as well. I was getting power to the relay but not consistantly. I decided to cut open the main battery harness I made and found the 10g wire from the battery to the relay was broken. Looks like something either pulled it or hit it to break the wire. It more than likely happened when i was doing something else and had the batter out of the car.

Either way I used it as an opportunity and taught my daughter how to crimp, solder, and run some new wires. Car has interior power now and starts every time.

thanks for all the advice.
 
junkpile said:
o.k. everyone. got to play with the car this past saturday. checked the bulkhead connectors, all was good there. Starter relay checked out good as well. I was getting power to the relay but not consistantly. I decided to cut open the main battery harness I made and found the 10g wire from the battery to the relay was broken. Looks like something either pulled it or hit it to break the wire. It more than likely happened when i was doing something else and had the batter out of the car.

Either way I used it as an opportunity and taught my daughter how to crimp, solder, and run some new wires. Car has interior power now and starts every time.

thanks for all the advice.
Click to expand...
Way to go!
 
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