[MBreinin]

I also posted this in the Electrical Section, but figured I might as well double it up.

I went to start up the '88 Graduate today after a few months of down time.

Battery was dead, of course. I charged it up and got the car to start.

As I was idling in the driveway in preparation of backing out, the radio shut down and the gauges died. The car continued to run, but I shut it off.

Upon attempting to restart the fuel pump is not cycling, no gauges, no spark. Starter turns, no lights in the dash at all.

I do not have a fuse diagram so I don't even know where to start. This is probably simple. The car was no longer on the charger when this happened, so nothing blinked out while it was on the charger. This was a good 5 minutes after the charger was removed.

Any ideas?

Mike

 

[ghnl]

I'm not much on electrical stuff - I grew up owning MG's so I mostly follow the Smoke Theory of electricity...! Below is a sketch of Spider's fuse box if that helps.

I would suggest cleaning all the battery cables and the ground cable's connection to the trunk floor. While the battery is disconnected, also remove and clean the connections at the starter motor.

The L-jet ignition computer requires at least 10.3 volts to wake up thus a weak battery will often prevent the car from starting - even though it may sound like it is cranking over OK, the voltage can drop below that threshold and it won't start. And, since the fuel pump relay is triggered by the ignition pulses that could explain why you don't hear the fuel pump - low voltage = no spark = no fuel.

The link in my signature has lots of info about the L-jetronic system.

 

[MBreinin]

Well, I will put it back on the charger and try it again. What has me miffed is that the car was running fine and all of a sudden the gauges died and the radio quit. Something shut down.

Mike