No Electrical Power At All

Switched out the alternator this weekend, drove fine for a few days now I have no power at all. Can't get the key out of the ignition can't put car in neutral, can't even unlock the hatch.

Checked the accesory fuses but is there a main fuse box???

Any other suggestions?

Check your connections. If all are okay. Have the alternator tested. Make sure your battery is completely charged before connecting the alternator.

i checked the volts at the battery terminals and I'm getting 12v, connections all seem to be tight and solid...any other ideas?

BTW 97 year we are talking about here...

Check the supply wire that connects to the side of the fuse box under the hood. If no voltage there, it is probably one of the inline fuses. I'll get you some more info on those, but it will take a few minutes.

yeah... i checked your profile

I tried to locate the fuse box in the engine compartment but can't find it...I'm at work and left my book in the garage after fooling around with the alternator.

Yours maybe different, mines a 98. Mine is on the driver side fender well. They should both be the same.

could it be the ignition switch? the transmission was acting up right beforehand...i saw another post here saying that with that kind of transmission problem it would indicate a bad ignition switch. Colud this also cause my car not to have power anymore???

The ignition switches on the 97s are bad about going out, but it wouldn't cause you to lose all power just power to the things controlled by the switch.

Are you sure nothing works? check the headlights.

Nothing at all works, checked the headlights...no power locks, can't get the key out of the ignition.

The battery terminals are clean and tight...correct?

Do you have a volt meter with you? Did you find the fuse box under the hood?

I haven't found the engine compartment fuse box. looked around the driver side wheel well. there is a small box (2' x 4') with two wing nuts. Looked too small to hold fuses of any size. I tried to open it and it didn't want to open up. Is that it???

Well, i'm going to try to the ignition switch - if that doesn't work I can always return it. Already cleaned and reconnected the battery terminals...still can't find an engine compartment fuse box. Anyone got a diagram or photo of it???

Here is a pic

http://www.geocities.com/zq8gmcsonoma/drl.JPG

Nope, I sure don't have one of those in the 97 model...If only I could drive to the library and check out the chilton book...I'll keep looking.

Well, I want to thank everyone for thier support and advice but it's about this point where I get down on my knees, say a nice prayer and commit hari kari....you know when I changed out that alternator and cheked everyting oh so well? Well, apparently I only connected one of the TWO wires to the ground. I looked at it 100 itmes but not until I accidently knocked the alternator with the flashlight did I find the problem.

I would like to thank everyone who helped me and told me to "check the connections" which I swear I did over and over again...I guess you live and learn...

The one good thing is that I found this forum and I hope that from the info I get here I can star to hook up my '97 a little bit better than I have in the past!

Thanks again to Blazee for putting up with my craziness! (but i still can't find that fusebox!)

:thumbsup: I'm glad you got that thing fixed. As far as the fuse box, there no need to find it now, it was just the next place to check if all the connections were good.

All that for one wire. :disappoin