85 running well. Seems as though my resurection work is complete
I stopped to pick-up my grandson.
Moved the passenger seat forward, car seat in, back to drivers seat.
Turned on key. Nothing. No lights, dead. Tiniest flinch of tach needle only.
No more electric to move seats. Nothing. Jiggle/strain/stress and turn ignition switch. No difference.

Had a meter. Voltmeter showed 12.36 at battery, 8.3 between CE red leads and known ground, same 8.3 ish at jump post. All grounds are clean and tight.


Background.
Starter has given rattling sound after starting, thought it was like really loose timing chains, but verified chains and tensioner were ok on recent intake job.

Was raining / wet on my ride to my kid's house.

Is it possible the starter broke apart and shorted internally? What else could rob that much voltage?

Harnesses are all in pretty good shape, very pliable. No rodent damage was visible to wires except a few little ones in console, since fixed.

Need your thoughts. Am watching the kid, but will also try to search...

 

Ignition switch.....you loose odd things like windows, seats, ect...I am almost sure. Sound just like it.

Swap out a known good switch and turn with a screw driver...takes 15 minutes.

 

hot post cover installed?? Possibly it is wet from the rain also the 14 pin connector is wet

 

Screw post installed, 14 pin appeared dry, maybe not, will check. Does not have the little black plastic overall cover.

 

The overall black plastic cover is a must have. Also the hood seals help as well don't want to get water in that area.

 

Battery ground strap failure? You have a lot of voltage drop between the battery and the post but it can come from either side of the battery. There have been a number of ground straps reported as "looks fine" but very high resistance. Easy check is to use a jumper cable from the negative battery post to a good chassis ground point.

 

+1 on the battery ground strap. It might look OK but still be bad. Especially after a few decades of service.

 

Clean the battery terminals thoroughly, including the ground strap at both ends. Start with the simple stuff. From there, chack voltage at the starter, the alternator, and again at the jumpstart terminal. Someplace in there, you'll isolate the section of battery cables and onnections that is causeing the voltage drop.

 

Sorry, missed the two posts on battery ground strap. Using the voltage test mode still, measure between the battery neg terminal (on the post, not the cable clamp) and chassis ground, and see if there is potential. The meter reading will be the actual voltage drop in that section.

Similarly, you can meter between the engine and the chassis at the front to prove the engine ground strap. More load equals larger voltage drop for a given resistance. For the engine ground strap test, the alternator load is what your load consists of, so don't bother unless the engine is running and the ligts/fans/AC/etc are also running.

 

Left the Car about 20 miles away, at son's house. I had put 150 miles on it today, pretty much flawless. All connections polished within last two weeks. 14 pin was completely apart yesterday, cleaned and inspected, pod out and back in yesterday. Looked like a virgin pod, all ties and connectors in place and pristine. Assembly / dissassembly went fine. Temp gauge issue was traced to a short in the harness near the temp sensor. Repositioned it and got gauge. Now, absolutely nothing.

Was perfectly fine until we ran that seat forward. Coincidence, no doubt, but I'll check under the seat tomorrow to make sure we didn't crush a harness, but it would have just shorted and blown a fuse. This seems like a ground issue.


Ok fromulating a plan. Battery terminals are shiny clean already, strong battery.
Will use compressed air to begin to dry 14 pin. Will trace voltage from battery cables, forward, using meter, starting with ground strap connection at battery, then following the + cable. Will address all external grounds.

Will bring new ground strap,, ignition switch , spare starter just in case.

If you guys think of other possibilities, please fire away.

I hope it doesn't dry-out overnight and start. Need to find this problem while its fresh.

 

Measured 12.86 volts across battery terminals this evening.

From + terminal to shock tower, got just under 4 volts.

Had forgotten the extra flat ground strap. Ran around corner to Advance auto for a round one.

Car immediately had power (locks cycled) and full voltage at the key. Starter spun.

But, wouldn't start.

Jiggled the (new) relays for LH, EZK, Fuel pump, etc. No start.

Manipulated some wires at injectors. Car started. Idled perfectly.
Drove it uphill in her neighborhood, so I could roll home of course, seemed ok, a little low on trans fluid, but running well.

Stood with daughter in law in driveway, watching car idle. Car stopped. She laughs.

Jiggled relays. Car started. (panel is completely clean, BTW).

Jiggled relays with it running, trying to make it fail. Grabbed, pulled and manipulated the exposed injector wires trying to make it fail. Couldn't.

Am thinking I have an LH problem Maybe the incidental closing of the passenger door in between jiggling things is having the major effect. (Speculation)

Next step, get car home and move brain to the rock solid 86. See how it performs in THAT car.
It will not defeat me.

Thanks for helping me.

 

If you haven't done it yet, replace the critical relays, FP, LH, EZ-F. I had an issue this spring where the car would not start intermittenlty. Thought it was the brains. Turned out to be the fuel pump relay. The relay was only a couple of years old, but that didn't matter, it still failed. Relay looked fine. It would run fine for days/weeks, then all of a sudden not start. On the 85 the fuel pump relay is also the +12V for the injectors.

 

Fit proper hot post cover.
Inspect the rear area for water leaking into the hatch area and then wetting the ground cable connection.

Since it was raining i would also inspect the bottom of the blower box for water leaks your car is a candidate for the seal to fail, it will be indicated by rusty screws and water tell tales coming down the CE panel supports.
Also inspect all of the fuses ( clean them with an eraser) and then pull all of the relays , smel for burns and if any are corroded then they should be opened and inspected