First Generation Firebird-L Mailing List .........................................................................
It's possible you have a bad battery cable. They often go bad inside the crimp. The smoke may have been the last little bit of wire burning up. My ground cable did that a few months ago. Car cranked one minute and everything was dead the next. ----- Original Message ---- > From: David Lasseter <[email protected]> > To: Firebird <[email protected]> > Sent: Friday, July 3, 2009 4:16:58 AM > Subject: [FGF] 68 won't start > > First Generation Firebird-L Mailing List > ......................................................................... > Good morning! > I can't figure out why my 68 coupe won't start. A few weeks ago a puff of > smoke > came up from around the battery when I turned the ignition key. The engine > turned over, but stopped when the smoke came up. I lost the interior > lighting > at the same time. I found a melted junction block, which I replaced. I > regained interior lighting but the car still wouldn't start. I removed the > starter and had it tested at Auto Zone. It was OK. I re-installed the > starter > and replaced the battery (Sears said it was bad), but still nothing. > Thinking I > may have switched the start and run wires on the starter I took it down and > reversed them. This worked: the engine turned over, but made a terrible > whining noise and wouldn't stop dieseling. I couldn't turn it off at the > switch > and had to disconnect the negative battery terminal to turn it off. At this > point my frustration level was too high to work on it for awhile. When I > went > back to the car and > tried to reconnect the negative cable the battery terminal and cable sparked > and > the starter tried to turn the engine. I took down the starter again, had it > re-tested (it was still OK), and examined the start and run wire. One of the > two had worn insulation and bare wire was showing. I wrapped the wire and > re-installed the starter (making sure I replaced the wires just as I'd > removed > them). This time there was no arcing between the negative cable and > battery. > But, I'm back to where I was before the arcing incident. I have interior > lighting but no fire seems to be getting to the starter. When I turn the > ignition key the voltmeter in the car reads between 10 and 12, so something > is > happening when I turn the key. I'm not sure what to do next. Thanks again > for > your help! > > David > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Submissions to Firebird-L: > Unsubscribe from Firebird-L: > Help: > > Classifieds: > Owner Pictures: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Submissions to Firebird-L: <[email protected]> Unsubscribe from Firebird-L: <[email protected]> Help: <http://FirstGenFirebird.org/firebird/Firebird-L.html> Classifieds: <http://FirstGenFirebird.org/ubb/> Owner Pictures: <http://FirstGenFirebird.org/show/>
