No Juice! Please help...

[73-se]

My car was going to go to the alignment shop. I started it to get it warmed up, then shut it off to get into the trunk. When I re-started 5 minutes later, nothing! Not even a click. Alternator and battery are new, charge is good. The fuses all seem to be intact. It just seems like the ignition isn't sending any power anywhere! Any ideas? Is there a hidden fuse/link I should be looking for, or some sort of relay that would do this?
The starter and accessories don't seem to be getting any power at all...

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Jeramy

[ChargerRob]

Jeramy, My Charger did the same thing and believe it or not it was the battery terminal that caused the problem. I cleaned them and have not had the problem again.

[73-se]

Thanks for the idea, but I've already checked that. I actually seem to be getting power to most things, except what the ignition controls. In other words, I have headlights but no turn signals for instance. My dome lights come on. Just nothing there that should work when I turn the key! Nothing is getting power from the ignition/accessories. Is there one particular wire or fuse/link I should be looking for in the ignition wiring perhaps?

[Nacho-RT74]

do you have the brake light warning on cluster on RUN position ?

Some works on accesories Position ?

Check the ignition harness plug undercolum. Is very common to get burned terminals specially the RED and also sometimes the BLUE ones that make lost contact.

RED comes from batt/alt
BLUE feeds engine at RUN position
BROWN feeds coil at START position bypassing the ballast.
YELLOW feeds starter relay at START position.
BLACK feeds accesories side of fuse box on RUN and ACC position.

Reason why dome light and lighting system works is because this power doesn't come from ignition switch, it comes directly from the batt/alt wiring ( charging system ).

[71_deputy]

 

[73-se]

No lights when the ignition is on. The gauge lights come on with the headlight, but no brake light or anything. I checked the harness plug by the column, actually both of them. I jiggled the wires hoping something would make contact but no effect so far. I'm going to mess with them some more tomorrow.

I was also wondering about a few other possibilities. I was having turn signal problems before all of this and I changed a couple of flashers. I'm wondering about the two things in the picture. I think the square one is another flasher (Hazard maybe?)... no idea what the tube thing is. Sorry for my ignorance, I couldn't find these these things in the wiring diagrams I have, not sure if they're something I should think about replacing...

The last is the solenoid on the firewall. Is this just a starter solenoid? Is this a factory thing, and could it be my problem? 

Thanks again, you guys are a big help!

[Nacho-RT74]

tube one is the time delay flasher. Make turns off the seatbelts warning light  and ignition key courtesy light.

square one is the hazzard heavy duty flasher.

turn signal flasher is round and located around the ashtray area... in fact if you have untouched that area with everything original, is clipped on to a retainer to the ashtray housing. ( back of dash frame, right side on frontal view )

Second pic. Starter relay is just that, even the stud also works like somekind of the splice from/to the charging/power system.

if you have light switch feeding everything ( parking, beams and cluster ), dome light, trunk light, glove box light... HAZZARDS AND BRAKES then you have power on main system ( battery source ).

If beside this you don't have accesories on RUN or ACC position ( Radio, A/C or Heater blower, rear deffog... ) then the problem is black line on ignition harness, DAMAGED IGNITION SWITCH  or ALL FUSES BLOWED OUT

IF you don't have BRAKE LIGHT WARNING on cluster  ( if brake light warning is good of course hehe ), no power on ballast or any blue wire of engine harness on RUN position then is blue line of ignition harness OR DAMAGED IGNITION SWITCH. There is no fuses on that line.

Same about brown and yellow in START Position... yellow only arrives up to starter relay. Brown ony arrives to ballast and spliced to coil... also feeds blue line when ignition is on START position but not from ignition because  Power is spliced from all prongs of ballast.

Hazzard and Brakes have a separate note. they are on same line and problem can be on pedal brake or flasher. If you have brakes but not hazzard, then is colum hazzard switch.

IMHO check again on undercolumn BIG plug harness, specially at red wire for reason explanied before ( burn, loosen, dirty terminal )... You also can unplug that plug one and make a jumper between red and the rest heavy gauges wires one by one, specially the yellow, becasue engine must crank. If engine cranks, the clean, tight, plug again and try with key. If still NOTHING, then is damaged ignition switch

[hemihead]

Ballast Resistor?

[toqwik]

Mine did that once, jumped across starter relay, fired right up, and never had that problem again....

[73-se]

Had a 1/2 hour to fight with it tonight, Nacho&71 you were right on about the wiring harness! I pulled that plug apart and found the black and red terminals were burned totally black. They appeared to have gotten so hot that they actually started to melt the inside of the plastic plug. I cleaned up the terminals and it started right up. Only now I'm scared to drive it... why would it get that hot? Does that mean I have a short? Does the black wire indicate somewhere that I should look for a short, or is this just a common symptom of old wiring?

Sorry for all the questions. You guys have been a huge help. Also thanks for the explanations on those pictures, I don't think I ever would have figured out that timed light delay.

[71_deputy]

years of current passing thru it causes the connectors to heat up=expansion, and when they cool they shrink.  So as time passes by the connectors are not so tight againist each other, so when you have current going thru them there is resistance, resistance=heat this things really start to go south after that!!!!

John Mac

[Nacho-RT74]

Had a 1/2 hour to fight with it tonight, Nacho&71 you were right on about the wiring harness! I pulled that plug apart and found the black and red terminals were burned totally black. They appeared to have gotten so hot that they actually started to melt the inside of the plastic plug. I cleaned up the terminals and it started right up. Only now I'm scared to drive it... why would it get that hot? Does that mean I have a short? Does the black wire indicate somewhere that I should look for a short, or is this just a common symptom of old wiring?

Sorry for all the questions. You guys have been a huge help. Also thanks for the explanations on those pictures, I don't think I ever would have figured out that timed light delay.

The Red one is very common throught the years but black is pretty rare... maybe you have a lot of accesories beside the originals ones ?¿?¿?¿? Or maybe you use A LOT the A/C or heater

Why it happens ? bad choose from MaMopar about terminals not really the wiring. If you got that on that harness the I recomend chech the bulkhead conections specialy the wire coming from alt and from batt up to. probably will find burned and melted areas. Check it it before you get a big trouble riding.


about the SORRY FOR THE QUESTIONS STUFF, buddy thats the forum reason to exist

[73-se]

Well I was going to replace the plug but nobody has it. I guess I'll have to find one at the junkyard. In the meanwhile I cut the plug out and soldered everything up. Runs like a top! I don't know why the black wire would have gotten so hot. It was a factory A/C car but all of that has been ripped out long before I got it. The heater and defrost seem to work okay but I haven't really driven it enough to need them yet so it shouldn't be those. There were some turn signal issues but after changing my flashers and cleaning all the connections they're working too. I also checked the fuse box and found a few wires that had gotten hot but nothing melted. I cleaned those up a bit as well.

Another possible culript might be a couple of wires under the hood that were just twisted together. One is power from the ignition, the other seems to power the motor- and it lights up the clear lights on the rear end. I would have thought these were the back-up lights but they run all the time. Anyway if I disconnect that wire the car doesn't start. Some I'm wondering if I have some crossed wires? I'm not sure what the tail-lights should look like because I've never seen them on a running car. My clear lights are on all the time, and I also have parking lights, turn signals, and brake lights, so everything is accounted for. I just don't know if it's the right lights coming on at the right time. Does that make any sense? 

[71_deputy]

NEXT QUESTION- IS IT A AUTO OR MANUAL TRANNY??
sorry about caps!


sounds like the wires that go to the tranny are cut and taped up, burnt together or the switch is toast.

[73-se]

You guessed it, its an auto. I'll have to put it up on the ramps and find that switch. Thanks!

[71_deputy]

10-4- IT SHOULD BE A 3 PRONG SWITCH!!!!