93 Cutlass Supreme won't start

[themindbender]

My fiance' left the interior light on overnight. I tried to jump it in the morning when I found out and no luck. I then took the battery to Autozone and the battery was putting out good amps and deemed good. When I turn the ignition, everything on the dash lights up as usual. But when I turn the key, I get nothing. The starter isn't moving, and the amp gauge goes from 14 to 8 instantly. The windows and power locks still work fine, could it be the starter? There was no battery draining before. Thanks

[maxwedge]

Check for grounds and poor battery cables or connections, also if the lites were on all nite how could the battery not be weak.

[themindbender]

I charged the battery by jumping then had it checked and charged to see if the battery was bad. I looked at all the connections and they seem good. That is what has got me, it just happened overnight. No prior instances of not taking a charge or anything like that.

[Slade901]

Do this this.

Purchage a push button remote starter $12 from autozone. It has two alligator clips which you connect one end to the start and the other end to the battery + terminal and then in the middle there will be a push button. It is one way to directly turn over the starter. If the starter does not turn over, more than likely the battery needs re-charging. Get yourself a small inexpensive 120Vac input 12vdc output battery charger/starter $40 and charge your battery.

[themindbender]

I have a trickle charger and the battery is fully charged. I will check autozone for the starter button, thanks. I also opened up the the steering coulom and everything seemed to be connected and engaged.

[XGamesJ6]

maybe the starter selenoid is out, seems logical since your not even getting a click, and when you crank all the gauges will drop to whatever 0 is, hence the volt gauge dropping to 8, since when you crank the engine it usually cuts power to everything else so everything can go to the starter in one shot. im pretty sure autozone does free starter testing, could be a bad selenoid or starter itself, worth a shot to check it out..If those check out to be fine, maybe its something with the selector switch on the tranny, since it will only allow the engine to crank when in P or N, it could me malfunctioning. take it a step at a time, pinpoint it.

[Slade901]

Now must of GM vehicles has this terminal called Remote Positive Terminal. If you trace the red + cable from the battery, you will find that mostly it is connected to some kind of bolt and held down by a nut. It is usually located on the side of the of the engine bay. Tighten that nut down and that should fix no start/crank problem. You might still have lights and accessories because the nut might be loose enough for low amp accessories to work but loose enough when high amp is required like starting the engine.

[themindbender]

How difficult is it to remove the starter? It wasn't so hard on a 68 impala but it seems there is no room on the FWD cars to get to it and out.

I traced the power + cable and it is tight.

Also, is the silenoid bolted onto the starter or next to it or ?

[Ian Szgatti]

the starter solenoid will be fixed to the starter.

[themindbender]

ok, it wound up being the starter. However, I towed it to a shop and the guy said that it had burned a wire out and tripped a few fuses. He then told me there was a $100 charge for "finding the problem" after I already told him it was the starter. Stay away from fletcher's in Tucson.

Thanks to everyone that had some input.