Can't Start - No Juice

My weak spot in mechanical is electrical. Can some kind soull help me out. I have a 1959 CMC speedster. I have power to the headlights and the dash gauges, but when I turn the key - dead, not even a click. I checked the battery cables - the negative is grounded, the positive goes all the way back to the starter. All fuses good. I do not have any power to anything except for the headlights. I am thinking ground, or maybe a regulator, but I am not sure what the regulator looks like. The car is a '73 Bug convertible frame, etc. Any help would be appreciated. THANKS!

Joe,

Grounds in a fiberglass car can be a problem. Sounds like a ground problem to me, guess it would pay to start from the front checking each ground along the way. Bruce

If you don't have an ohmmeter/voltmeter, you might want to get one from Radio Shack. You should be able to isolate the problem very quickly. Caution: if you use the ohmmeter to check for continuity, don't forget to disconnect the battery cables first.

Brian

I had the same problem when we moved to Tennessee, the car riding on the moving van. When it was unloaded, it refused to start. I know that you said you checked the cables, but in my case, a quick check reavealed that although the connections looked OK, in fact they must have vibrated loose and were just not tight enough. It's an easy thing to fix and I sure felt like a dummy after tightening up; The car fired up and sounded like a symphony (not really, but I love that sound);)

Also, look for loose wires in the starter and solenoid area. I had a different symptom this summer where tuning the key just gave me a whrrrrrrr. A connection, spade type, practically fell out in my hand. I pinched it a bit with the pliers and it has been fine ever since.
Good luck.
(Message Edited 9/24/2003 10:18:10 AM)

The ignition switch itself may be the problem - check to see that the switched lead to the starter solenoid is hot.

Thank you to all for your advice. I will try all the great suggestions you guys mentioned, and keep you posted! What a great website this is.

Check your ground from the transmission to the frame.

I had this before as well. If you turn the key ON, can you jump start the car? If so then you are getting closer to where the problem is.

I had that problem on my old 61 buggy , a wire came unpluged at the switch. ALso playing in the backwoods I,ve drug stuff and pulled it lose at the starter to.
(Message Edited 9/26/2003 6:27:07 PM)

Well, I tried jumping car - no luck. All wires visible correctly grounded. Starter wires secure. Started 2 nights ago, then sputtered out. Wouldn't restart. Hasn't restarted in 2 days since. Any ideas?

Joe, when you say it won't start, do you mean totally dead, without even the starting solenoid pulling in? What did you do to make it start the last time...was it just random? Did you actually clean the grounds..they can look good, but corrosion can create a high resistance connection. Rather than trying random things, my suggestion is to get the multi-meter and schematic (if you have one) and systematically trace out the circuit from the battery all the way through.

Brian, I mean totally dead. The headlights and dash lights work. But no power, nada, not even a click of the starter when I turn the key on. The times it has worked has been random.

Assuming you have power and the lights going on mean you have juice. If you turn the key to ON and it won't jump start then you may need to check simple connections.

Check that the thick wire to the coil is connected. (the one that goes to distributor)

The starter wheel might be stuck. Turn the car OFF and put it in 3rd gear and push it backwards.

If the lights are bright but the car won't turn over it may be a dead spot in your battery terminals or a dying battery. Try to move the terminals on the posts to a new position. This happens alot in old cars.

You may need to check the solenoid. Crawl under the car . Check the wire to the solenoid and see if one is loose. Also take a big screwdriver and touch the 2 posts together. This will short the solenoid directly to the battery. It should whirr but will not start. If it doesn't but the lights are still bright your starter is shot. Make sure the car is OFF and out of gear. You can also tap the solenoid with a hammer to wake it up a bit.

Are you sure your ignition switch is OK and making good contact?

Cheers

Just added....you said just sputtered out....sounds like a terminal on the battery. Lossen them and move them to a new position and tighten. I had this as well drove me nuts. The car would not recharge and would run until finally it ran out of juice. The car should run wihout a battery but with lights, stereo, brake lights, turn signals etc....


(Message Edited 9/29/2003 3:29:29 AM)

(Message Edited 9/29/2003 8:32:57 AM)

Thanks Brian, I'll try these tips after work this evening. I hate to have it towed to a repair shop, where I'll have to pay $$$ for the tow and $$$ for the repair.

Joe

I've tried everything suggested here. No luck. It will be towed off tomorrow. I'll let everyone know (hopefully) what the result is.

Joe

I have run into stuck solinoids before. It happens in cars that are not run very often. a few raps on the solinoid with a rubber mallet sometimes frees it.

Also dead spots on the starter, but if you did the 3rd gear push a foot then it sounds like a bad starter, loose starter wire or relay.

Let us know what it turns out being.

Well, got my car back today. The problem was the buss area, the metal strip behind the fuse box. Seems the genius before me had tried to solder an ALUMINUM buss bar there. It was not carrying any load, as the solder didn't take. And it had warped out of shape.

A big THANK YOU to everyone that tried to help me. I will become a donating member thanks to the spirit that is here on this website. Let's keep that spirit going!

Joe in NJ

Joe,

Glad to hear you're back on the road, hard-to-find problems like this can be a real pain. You might want to consider registering on this site so folks know more about your car, where you're located, etc. and might be able to provide additional suggestions in the future. If I had known you were in New Jersey I would have suggested checking your problems with members of the New Jersey Replicar Club, their website is www.njreplicar.org and they have seven Speedster owners listed who might be helpful. Just a suggestion.

hey joe, where in nj?---bruce

Jackson NJ near Great Adventure.

i'm in north jersey, just wondering