'89 Caprice Police/Taxi

[gnorthey]

Greetings,

I have an '89 Caprice with a 5.7 ltr. and the Police/Taxi package that suddenly developed an electrical issue.

It is acting like a circuit breaker is tripping. I open the door and the interior lights come on so I believe I have 12v to the car. I put the key in and turn it to the 'On' position and the Check engine, brake, alt and oil lights come on and the audio signal 'dings' like normal but as soon as I turn the key to 'Start' to engage the starter, everything goes black. No juice. I can turn the key back to the 'off' position and back to 'On' position and the whole process repeats itself.

Also, I can run the heater, windshield wipers and low beams but not all at the same time. I cannot turn on the high beams, it immedeatly shuts down. (just like the starter).

What I have done is:

Taken the battery out and put it into my '91 C20 Van. It starts it right up. Battery is good.

Cleaned the battery connections at the terminals and the auxillary post.

Checked for 12v at battery, alt and starter. All check out.

I guess I just don't know where to go from here. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Gary

[silicon212]

Originally Posted by gnorthey

Greetings,

I have an '89 Caprice with a 5.7 ltr. and the Police/Taxi package that suddenly developed an electrical issue.

It is acting like a circuit breaker is tripping. I open the door and the interior lights come on so I believe I have 12v to the car. I put the key in and turn it to the 'On' position and the Check engine, brake, alt and oil lights come on and the audio signal 'dings' like normal but as soon as I turn the key to 'Start' to engage the starter, everything goes black. No juice. I can turn the key back to the 'off' position and back to 'On' position and the whole process repeats itself.

Also, I can run the heater, windshield wipers and low beams but not all at the same time. I cannot turn on the high beams, it immedeatly shuts down. (just like the starter).

What I have done is:

Taken the battery out and put it into my '91 C20 Van. It starts it right up. Battery is good.

Cleaned the battery connections at the terminals and the auxillary post.

Checked for 12v at battery, alt and starter. All check out.

I guess I just don't know where to go from here. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Gary

Check your grounds, and replace your battery cables. It's possible that one of them is failing inside at the terminal.

[Blue Bowtie]

You may also want to check the fusible links.

[gnorthey]

Originally Posted by gnorthey

Greetings,

I have an '89 Caprice with a 5.7 ltr. and the Police/Taxi package that suddenly developed an electrical issue.

It is acting like a circuit breaker is tripping. I open the door and the interior lights come on so I believe I have 12v to the car. I put the key in and turn it to the 'On' position and the Check engine, brake, alt and oil lights come on and the audio signal 'dings' like normal but as soon as I turn the key to 'Start' to engage the starter, everything goes black. No juice. I can turn the key back to the 'off' position and back to 'On' position and the whole process repeats itself.

Also, I can run the heater, windshield wipers and low beams but not all at the same time. I cannot turn on the high beams, it immedeatly shuts down. (just like the starter).

What I have done is:

Taken the battery out and put it into my '91 C20 Van. It starts it right up. Battery is good.

Cleaned the battery connections at the terminals and the auxillary post.

Checked for 12v at battery, alt and starter. All check out.

I guess I just don't know where to go from here. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Gary

Well, I finally got a chance to look into this and I got it started. I think what did it was taking Electic-Klean (like Brake-Klean only for electircal components) and I cleaned every connection on the positive side all the way to where the lead connects to the 20 amp fuse on the RH inner fender. I turned the switch to 'Start' and could hear the starter solinoid rattle. Put the jumper cables on it and it fired right up. I think I probably need new positive battery cables anyway, but it works now.