Installed new engine, started up fine, so I went for first drive, and I kept hearing a loud POP increasing as rpm's went up, had very little power, lights dimming, wanting to idle low/die at stop. Then everything just goes out, engine, lights, dash, etc. Zero electrical power. Coast into a parking lot, pop hood to find that the hold down bracket I made for the battery was up against the unused positive post at the top....so basically everything just died.

Walk home, get my Blazer and install the battery from it...still no power to anything, but a multimeter from the positive terminal to a ground shows 12.9v? So...is there a breaker or fuse that trips in this situation that I can't seem to find?

Need help ASAP!!

 

Yup, can't find any blown. I did just notice that after it sits for about 20+ mom without the battery connected, then I hook it back up, everything has power again, locks, lights, dash, etc.....but as soon as I turn the key to start, I hear a 'click' then everything goes black again as if I disconnected the battery upon turning the key to 'start'.

What would cause this?

 

Are the battery terminals corroded or loose at all?

 

Do you mean the fuses? Where do I check the fusable links?

 

If everything is fine until you click the starter, it's probably a loose connection or break in a wire or something. Start wiggling wires and look for a problem.

 

Well now since posting about the starter I haven't been able to get any power since, about an hour of waiting and retrying, now no power whatsoever.

 

If the battery is indeed good, then pull on the main power cables, see if theres any breaks or loose connections.

 

Finally got the battery to read power again so I was able to get the windows up and everything locked up, going to try again in the morning.

As far as the problem, I checked 12.43v at the positive power junction while holding the negative lead to a ground, this was with no power from the battery. Once I did FINALLY get power back to it, I noticed the dash read the voltage as being very low, while the multimeter was reading the 12.4v, and the windows went up very very slow as well. I then decided to hook jumper cables from my Blazer battery while running, to the positive on the TransAm battery and negative to a ground on the TA, this made the dash read a normal reading, and the windows operated closer to normal speed. SO then I decide to try starting it 'one' more time, and again, I hear a "click" come from the direction of the starter, and everything goes out again...while the jumper cables are still hooked up?

Any ideas? I'll get under the car and check the wires in the morning and have the battery and starter tested.

 

What's the voltage across the battery when the engine is running?

 

Check connection at the starter and ground to engine block.

 

What about the negative cable? There was a lot of power that went through it...

Glad the car didn't catch fire... that was a dangerous situation that happened.

 

Now that it's daylight I'm headed back up to the car to see what I can find out. Going to pull the starter and battery first, then go from there.

 

Ok, took battery and starter to Autozone, battery tested good, 12.39v without load, and 11.09 with load...so a good charge should help it out.

The LT4 starter...when I went to pull it off, the gear was sticking out engaged with the flywheel already, before unbolting it. However, it tested out ok, during the test the gear popped in and out as normal and spun.

Going to try putting back on the car again to see what happens?

 

Before Putting everything back together, I made sure that everything was zip tied away from the headers and anything else, then installed starter and battery, and now voltmeter on dash reads about 13v and everything works fine now.

....except for the fact that now I have a loud pop/backfire coming from the exhaust, will start a new thread on that.

 

You need to use 2 (probably thin) washers to space the starter away from the block if the gears are binding.