Can anyone throw me a bone with this one!! My '86 El Camino died when the wife was driving it!! :eek: Lucky for me it was only a few blocks away...

Here's the deal, the batt is fully charged, lights, clock (part of radio), door buzzer and interior lights work. The key is dead (no click or anything) , the fan, radio, wipers and all of the guages don't work. All the fuses are good.

Doesn't seem to be heat soak (shouldn't stop the fan motor or wipers) so I'm thinking maybe something in the ign switch itself since all the things that are hot all the time work.

I only half hartedly trouble shot this in the bank parking lot before deciding to call AAA to tow it home. This whole ordeal has taken 3 hrs out of my day and is interupting putting a new carb on the White Wonder!! After posting this it's back to the Camaro and new carb.... Any input is appreciated.

possibly a fusable link down at the starter. that's what i'd check next

Fwiw, I just had the same thing happen to me, turned out to be corrosion on one of the battery cables, it's worth a look.

have power froom the starter post to the ignition ?

you probably have it fixed by now

What was it ?

Hei ignition module?

Well thanks for the input guys keep it coming. Dean I haven't touched it other than to roll up the windows last night. My shower door decided not to let the wife out yesterday when she was done and I was out in the garage when she was yelling and I didn't hear her. She managed to free herself but the door hinges took a beating. to get back on her good side (it wasn't my fault!!) I took her to the flee market after breakfast and when we got home spent the rest of the day repairing the hinges on the shower door.

We'll see how much time I have after work this week. I need to get the VOM out and find out what went open and why. I believe it may be a fusable link feeding the ignition switch. Maybe I should invest in a book with a wiring diagram!!

Ditto what Dean said.

Neutral Safety Switch.

Ok this thing is getting the best of me!! graemlins/sad.gif I can't see worth beans up close and my glasses won't be in for a week or more!! I have some cheap reading glasses but left them at the office. Things have to be at least an arms length away before there is clarity!! That's hard to do both under the dash and on my back under the vehicle!! Top it off the tow truck that brought it home left it setting in the wrong direction and when I got home there was a $25 ticket awaiting me for not only parked the wrong direction but for being more than 18" from the curb!! It's about 14" in the rear and just under 17" in front!! :mad: On any given day for the past 6 yrs there's 1-3 cars parked the wrong way in the neighborhood!!! :mad:

Back to the problem. The starter is almost not accessable, I have it unbolted but would have to remove the y pipe to replace it if I ever have to. the ckt I believe looks like the bottom example HERE!! (http://www.chuckschevytruckpages.com/images/starter.jpg)

I disconnected the wires feeding the steering wheel and looked for Batt (+) on the plug and none present. I then disconnected the battery (both terminals) thinking lifting the ground would leave all the connections in the plug on the steering colume open, they all have ground on them :confused: even the 2 that normally would have batt!! I guess that could be normal if grd is feeding back from the accessories. So now it's time to attack the starter. Can't get my hands within 6 inches of the solenoid so out comes the starter!! I can get to the bolts ok and drop the flex plate cover and remove the starter bolts and that's when I find out the exhaust won't let the starter drop out! :mad: I was able to turn the starter so in the morning I should be able to lift the wires. All signs are pointing to the wire between the batt post on the starter and the ign. I hope things go quick tomorrow, I don't want to get repete tickets and the city doesn't allow working on cars on the curb!! If I say it doesn't run I will end up with another ticket for that!! Glad my weekend company won't be here until saturday!!!

Found the problem!!! graemlins/hurray.gif The damn grounds on all the leads was the biggest clue!!! I'll have to finish bolting the starter back up and clean up and put the wiring under the dash back together... graemlins/clonk.gif And then figure out where to get a replacement connecter for the melted one under the hood.

Right off the alt and buried in and below 2 wire looms is a melted connector. Some how it got grounded up against the heat riser bolted to the exhaust manifold that gets routed to the base of intake air horn... I hope nothing else got fried down stream... :eek: