brdd

Here goes:
72 small block convertible 4 speed with air.

I have had this car for about ten years. Everything on this car has been touched, either by me or by previous owners. Very little is original. My hands have been everywhere on this car from bumper to bumper.

I parked it two years ago because I got tired of it dying on me everywhere I drove it. Yesterday I decided to pull it out of storage and fire it up.

It starts right off and runs ok. When it has run for a few minutes, it dies (electrically speaking). NO POWER to anything. Not even a click from the ignition. Everything shuts off: radio, fans, everything. Then I let it sit for a minute or two or three, and it starts up like nothing bad ever happened.

The interruption is random: sometimes longer than other times.

This is definitely beyond my skill level, so any ideas would be appreciated.

Alan 71

Hi b,
Since the problem affects EVERYTHING and is so random I think I'd begin by looking at the connections at the battery.
Especially the ground connection at the battery and frame.
Regards,
Alan

MrJlr

Just to clarify, you mean EVERYTHING?
No horn, no lights, not even brake lights?????

brdd

Absolutely everything shuts off: radio, fans on radiator, engine, horn, etc etc etc...............then in a little while it will come back like it was never gone.

MrJlr

Then like Alan said, ground from battery.
An outage that severe has to be the power source is disconnected.

mikem350

I find the easiest way to trace a circuit is with a test light. In your case I would check the red wire connection at the starter first (the one that goes back to the alternator), and the fat battery wire, along with the main grounds and battery connections.

Use the schematic, trace from the battery starter alternator

brdd

I have a lift so I will get it up in the air asap. Now I have another problem. The drivers door was closed and will not open. It is locked good. Something has jammed inside the mechanism. I have tried for an hour-plus to get it open.....no luck. Any help here would be appreciated.

MrJlr

An AAA guy might be able to Slim-Jim it open.

DUB

There are many posts on the forum that show the EXACT PLACE you can press a lever in your latch mechanism and OVERRIDE it and the door will open.....JUST as long as you can roll the window down. I can open you door in under 15 seconds....it is that simple....ONCE you know where to press.

Look at this:
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...mmed-shut.html

DUB

brdd

Yep I got the door open. Once I found the "sweet spot" it opened easily.

brdd

Yesterday we finally found the problem.

After replacing several items, we still did not have any power anywhere. We dropped the steering column and looked at the two connectors for the ignition. Both had seen better days and at one time both were molested by a previous owner or a Bubba. So we ordered them in and soldered them into the wiring. Still no go.

At that point we started looking at the wiring harnesses connected on the firewall. Since we had replaced the engine bay harness a few years ago, we started looking at the dash harness for continuity. When it came to a red wire, there was no voltage going through, but there was voltage coming from the starter. A jumper wire confirmed that, indeed, there was a problem inside the dash harness. On these old cars, anything can break or fail.

We ran a new wire from the power wire to the correct ignition connector. The car now has all power and fires up.

Today we will reinstall the column and get it outside, clean it up and take it for a (reliable) drive for the first time in a long time.

I could not have done it without my car pal, Jeff. He has forgotten more about cars than I'll ever know. Without him I would have taken the car to a pro somewhere.

What a job this was.................