engine and drivetrain no life in the electrics.....

[Guest Anonymous]

Hey..

Im just about done with re lubricating the engine after its been stagnant for 3 years. Im going to turn it over by hand next weekend.

but ive hit a big hurdle. I tried chucking a battery in the car today in order to see the condition of the electrical system. Nothing. The car has an alarm which should have gone off as soon as there was power. No dash lights anything.. The alternater and the negative turminal began to smoke so a quickly removed the power. I assume this means theres a short, but really i have no idea. Anyone know if there is a common cause for this sort of thing or where i should start looking?

Im off to see a parts car this coming weekend, besides all the simple asthetic and mechanical things im going to grab what electric bits should i steel from it.

Also this may be a bit over the top due to frustration but should I just grab the bulk of the wiring loom?

cheers

[Guest Anonymous]

first: not to slap you around any, but make sure the cable going to the starter (+) was on the pos side of the battery, regardless of color. (PO had cable colors wrong on my current car)

two: disconnect all alarm wires. Does it have a motor/electrical cut out?

three: when parts car-ing. Grab anything that smoked in the first electrical test. Grab the voltage reg (drivers fender) all electric relays etc. The wires are easy enough to replace.

Also check the door rubber (if it's better than yours snag it). Grab any lights/turn signals (they are all shopping cart high and WILL break sooner or later)

get back to us on the electrics and I/we/someone will be able to help walk you thru it.

Best of luck,

Britt

PS we drove a car home over 600 miles that had set unstarted for 3 years and been parked for 5. It's not all that bad, hang in there.

[Guest Anonymous]

I think you had the terminals reversed. Rub your eyes and look again. My 76 had a red negative cable and a black positive installed by the PO, easy to mix them up that way. My brother melted his jumper cable hooking it up to my dead car by just looking at color alone.

Another possibility is your starter lead is crooked the wrong direction and is grounding out.

Good luck! Seems like these cars like to rest sometimes, judging by the effort always seeming to be required to start one that " ran a few months ago "

[Guest Anonymous]

I had nada in the way of electricals too. So I really scraped the hell out of the battery posts, and lo and behold, all of a sudden I had a connection. Check to see if you just have a massive amount of corrosive build up.

[Guest Anonymous]

thanks for the advice. im pretty sure I had the terminals arond the right way but im going to check my haynes manual and try again anyway. failing that ill leave it for next weekend.

My father is building a restoration shelter onto the carport solely for this vehicle (I flat in 1 of his rentals), so theres no doubt it will live again.

[Guest Anonymous]

Im embaressed and yet relieved to to say I did have the terminals around the wrong way. You were right. The negative was coloured red and the positive blue.

So despite a tempary (& stupid) set back im quite happy. The electrics are still all screwed up ie. blinkers wont flash, dash lights are very dim. But nothing drastic.

The remote central locking still works too -

[Guest Anonymous]

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