I have an 88 chevy caprice. After buying a haynes manual i felt empowered and decided to try to remove my alarm. It had long been deactivated after i lost my remote and some wires came unplugged. After that fiasco i atepmted to start my car and low and behold it didnt work. My dash lights lit up but the starter did nothing. since i know nothing i i thought my starter was dead. Equipped with my handy Haynes manual i decided i was ready to replace the starter in my dorm parking lot with limited tools. After screwing up project number 2 (replacing the starter). i hookked my battery back up and notihng, no lights, no ignition, nothing. Like there wasnt even a battery in. I took my battery to autozone and they tested it and said it was good. Can someone help me?
where to start ( bite your tongue).... i suspect the first problem arose from a starter kill relay that was installed with the alarm you removed.... check the ignition wiring and you'll probably find the starter wire was cut in half and spliced into..... remove the starter kill relay and reconnect the starter wire together....
as far as problem # 2, just grab a meter and start to see where you have primary voltage and where you dont... do you have primary feed to the ignition switch? no? then look for a blown maxi fuse or fusable link... if yes then meter the ignition wires when cycling the ignition... are they activating? if not... a bum ignition switch ( unlikely).... i bet you blew some kind of primary protection when changing the starter... you did disconnect the battery before attempting to replace your starter right??
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Kevin Gerry
Certified Electronics Technician
MECP First Class Installer
Owner/Installer
Classic Car Audio
since 1979
Fusible Link is what I was thinking. I looked at the starter system electrical diagrams in my god-awful Haynes there are two Fusible links(no maxi fuse crazyness). I did disconnect the battery but the positive side evidently thats not the right side to disconnect? The stater wires touched during the starter removal and sparked is that bad? I was able to find the starter wire that was spliced to the alarm and spliced it back together. Still nothing. I think next i'll try abra-cadabra and wave a wand at it.
you need some fusible link wire of the same gauge and length then get a crimp shrink and ring terminal and your set, you can get premade ones also.
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Brian
Is there some type of wire gauge to fuse amps conversion? i figure it would just be easier to throw a fuse on the circuit i dont see how it would a problem. even if there is no conversion could some one recomend a good fuse size?
By conversion i mean a mathmatic formula not converter.