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    Author Topic: Help! Car won't turn over  (Read 961 times)

    Offline repo68

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    Help! Car won't turn over
    « on: July 16, 2011 - 08:14:32 PM »
    Had a problem this morning with my 70 Chally.   I turn the key, hear one click and everything goes dead.  After some troubleshooting and cleaning up some corroded connections, I found that I could wait awhile, and power would return to the dash with the key turned on, but as soon a I tried to start, the power to the dash would drop again.  The same thing happens if I turn on the headlight switch.   I put a multimeter on the main power coming out of the fusebox and found when this happens the voltage drops to about 2 volts, and then after awhile,  the voltage jumps back to around 12 volts.  When it happens, I can hear something click or beep (like something electronic turning on).  Battery voltage looks good, and the ballast resistor appears to be OK. 

    Any ideas? 

    - Pete
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    Offline dodj

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    Re: Help! Car won't turn over
    « Reply #1 on: July 16, 2011 - 08:43:12 PM »
    If you haven't done it yet, charge/test your battery. If your battery is fine, you have at least one high resistance connection in your wiring. Go over it one connection at a time until you find it. No fast way to do it really. The theory is with no current flow, you will read 12 volts. As soon as you start to draw a high load, the high resistance connection drops part of the supply voltage and then the starter or relay or whatever doesn't see enough voltage to work so you hear .......'click'
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    Scott
    1973 Challenger  440 4 spd 
    2007.5 3500 6.7 Cummins Diesel, Anarchy tuned.
    Good friends don't let friends do stupid things. ........alone.

    Offline Bullitt-

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    Re: Help! Car won't turn over
    « Reply #2 on: July 16, 2011 - 08:44:44 PM »
       :iagree:  & Don't overlook the connection on the starter
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    Wade  73 Rallye 340..'77 Millennium Falcon...13 R/T Classic   Huntsville, AL
    Screwed by Photobucket!

    Offline footin70rt

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    Re: Help! Car won't turn over
    « Reply #3 on: July 16, 2011 - 08:53:32 PM »
    Check where the main power feed runs through the bulk head connector. They are notorious for getting hot and causing high resistance, or loss of power inside the car.
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    Thomas
    Driving the same 70 R/T since October 1985
    Native of Bozeman, MT

    Offline Strawdawg

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    Re: Help! Car won't turn over
    « Reply #4 on: July 16, 2011 - 08:53:45 PM »
    the symptoms sound as if a circuit breaker is tripping due to a short and does not return power again for a short time....has someone can you pin point the area that the clicking sound appears to be coming from?  then trace the wire for a short?
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    Offline repo68

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    Re: Help! Car won't turn over
    « Reply #5 on: July 16, 2011 - 09:31:20 PM »
    I'll take a closer look at the battery, but I think it's OK.  It still has over 12volts in either condition ( I'm pretty sure I checked it with full power to dash and also when it dropped out). 

    Earlier I found I didn't have power at the bulkhead connection and found corrosion at the connection just after the fusible link.  I cleaned it up and it had good voltage afterward.  But maybe it's not good enough.  I'll have to do it the hard way, and go connection to connection.

    It does seem to act like a circuit breaker though, especially since I could hear something make noise when the power kicked back on.  I wish I had a 2nd set of ears to listen for a location.  Does anyone know how many and where they are located?  I didn't know they even existed on these cars.

    Thanks for your help!
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    Offline dodj

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    Re: Help! Car won't turn over
    « Reply #6 on: July 16, 2011 - 11:27:03 PM »
    Quote from: repo68 on July 16, 2011 - 09:31:20 PM

    It does seem to act like a circuit breaker though, especially since I could hear something make noise when the power kicked back on.
    I'm not aware of any circuit breakers in the e-body harness wiring though.... :clueless:
    Just relays and fuses. Any wiring mods done to your car?
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    Scott
    1973 Challenger  440 4 spd 
    2007.5 3500 6.7 Cummins Diesel, Anarchy tuned.
    Good friends don't let friends do stupid things. ........alone.

    Offline repo68

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    Re: Help! Car won't turn over
    « Reply #7 on: July 17, 2011 - 08:43:30 AM »
    No major mods that I know of, at least electrically.  Everything looks pretty old.  It's probably a bad ground or connection somewhere.  I just need to spend the time to go through it all.  Not exactly fun, but it sounds like the most likely problem. 

    Thanks again for all of your replies.

    - Pete
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    Offline DAYLEY/CHALLENGER

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    • Still My Inspiration..1971, Rockingham, Nc
    Re: Help! Car won't turn over
    « Reply #8 on: July 17, 2011 - 08:45:51 AM »
    Not that mine would not start.......but driving along she would just die completely.   Finally cleaned up the bulkhead connection good and no more problems...............good luck..........David
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    Dave or David

    Offline JayBee

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    Re: Help! Car won't turn over
    « Reply #9 on: July 17, 2011 - 09:32:08 AM »
    A friend of mine drove his e-body to a car show, turned it off, then wanted to move it and nothing. Just a click, everything dimmed or went out. In his case it turned out to be a dead 3 year old battery. Even trying to boost it didn't start the car. Once we took a battery out of another car and put it in, his started right up.

    This also just happened with my daily driver ('94 Sable), turn the key - nothing - dash goes out. In this case it was the starter.
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    John

    1970 Barracuda convertible
    2014 Toyota Avalon

    Offline repo68

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    Re: Help! Car won't turn over
    « Reply #10 on: July 19, 2011 - 11:32:49 AM »
    Problem fixed! 

    It was corrosion on the positive battery terminal connection.  What a dummy I am.  That's what I get for trying to over-diagnose the problem.  Could've driven the car all last weekend.

    Anyway, this happened to me many years ago with my first car.  Wouldn't start, tried to jump it - didn't work, swapped batteries - didn't work, replaced the starter - didn't work.  Thought it was a bad replacement starter and replaced it with another one - didn't work.  Turns out it was corrosion on the pos battery connector. 

    Amazingly, this weekend I thought about it but dismissed the idea since the battery connections & terminals looked so clean (no external corrosion at all).  It wasn't until I decided to pull the battery out and disconnected it that I could see a grey/white deposit on the inside surface of the connector.   Once I wire brushed it and cleaned everything thoroughly, it was fine.  Looks like the lead layer of the connector had eaten away and in some areas was down to copper or brass.  Maybe that is causing it to corrode quickly.  Time to replace it...

    Anyway, thanks again for all of your advice and feedback.

    - Pete



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