No power

20

Asked by Rkirk101 Oct 01, 2017 at 11:57 AM about the 1974 Chevrolet El Camino Base

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

1974 el Camino starter hung up and
started smoking... all of the teeth on
bendix were broken so I replaced the
starter... now I have no power at all.. bench
tested starter and it's good.. checked
battery and it's good... need help

7 Answers

250

Work back from the starter: does the starter solenoid work (cause: solenoid), does the solenoid get a signal (cause: ignition switch), is the power lead to the solenoid connected properly (cause: power lead), does the battery have enough charge? Also: is the car in neutral??

2 people found this helpful.
20

I jumped the solenoid and stater actuated... car is in neutral... there is a built in fusible link just off the starter in one of the small wires... think that could be the problem? How would I check to see if solenoid is getting a signal? Thanks for your help

1 people found this helpful.
101,635

try a voltage drop test to the starter. If the fusible link blew then you aren't getting power to the starter. If you have a basic meter you can check continuity in the link.

1 people found this helpful.
250

Get the old multimeter out and run a switched (and preferably fused) wire from the positive battery terminal to the solenoid switch input, switch on the power to the solenoid and see if there is power going to the wire coming out of the solenoid that goes into the starter motor. If no voltage is present, the solenoid is dead (although given what you already said before you can probably hear the starter motor turn over). From there on you can check if the fusible link is dead by checking continuity. If that is fine, get a helper to use the key to try and start the engine, check if the start signal gets to the solenoid. It's basically just a game of elimination, working from the starter back.

1 people found this helpful.
20

I don't think I said this before but when I say no power... no headlights accessories or anything

20

I replaced negative cable and cleaned everything really good and still nothing

1 people found this helpful.

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