No Power, How Do I Test Issues?

[KingChuck24]

Where does this wire go? That’s probably hot from the battery that goes on the starter positive terminal not starter case. Nothing goes off starter case that I can remember.

Where is the starter positive stud? There was a wire coming off the starter case before but I suppose it could have been a ground. Is the stud on the end of the starter or the thing that is above it?

 

[KingChuck24]

Is it that stud on top?

 

[Rttoys]

Here’s the starter positive and case. Case is ground. It gets its ground through the block that’s grounded to the chassis. Sometimes they will ground the starter case to frame for good measure. I don’t remember if a cobalt did that.

 

[Rttoys]

Yep. This is where the cable from the battery positive goes.

 

[KingChuck24]

Here’s the starter positive and case. Case is ground. It gets its ground through the block that’s grounded to the chassis. Sometimes they will ground the starter case to frame for good measure. I don’t remember if a cobalt did that.

Oh ok I think that is our biggest issue right now, we have the positive connected to the grounds. We will changed that and see what happens. Thank you so much, you have been a great help so far!

 

[Rttoys]

Battery positive to the positive post on the starter. Starter positive post to the big terminal on the fuse box.

 

[KingChuck24]

Good news, connected the positive cables in the right place and now the battery doesn’t spark when connecting. The needles moved on the dash when the battery was connected as well. When we turn the key we hear a click from the fuse box area and up by the bcm but nothing on the dash. Going to go through all of the grounds and the video again right now and see what else we can get to work. Thanks so much rttoys you have been a great help!

 

[KingChuck24]

Ok so just went through the videos checking things and from what I can see everything looks normal besides some of the things that aren’t plugged in. At this point we are just trying to get a readout from the display so we are only turning the key one click. I’ll attach some photos of the connectors we don’t have a place for or at least we dont think we have a place for. What is critical for the dash to turn on? I would assume it’s power and the bcm stuff so maybe check stuff around there?

 

[KingChuck24]

Just found out the white and gray connectors go to the turn signal and lights coming out of the wheel.

 

[Joebob]

Make sure that the power steering is plugged in as well. In fact, it is a great idea to plug everything in and have all the grounds installed before the first start. Many problems are averted if completing a bit more on the electrical build before first start attempts.

Joe

 

[KingChuck24]

Make sure that the power steering is plugged in as well. In fact, it is a great idea to plug everything in and have all the grounds installed before the first start. Many problems are averted if completing a bit more on the electrical build before first start attempts.

Joe

Got it, I will go through and plug everything in that did not seem as critical. Will see if that fixes the issue or not.

 

[Goblinfanclub1234]

it looks like you connected the positive +12V wire from the battery to the mounting bolt on the starter which is causing a short.

On the starter lug which is right next to where the small electrical connector plugs in you should have 3 wires.
1. wire from +12V on the battery
2. the charging wire from the alternator
3. the wire that goes from starter to the fuse box.

The alternator and the starter are grounded to the frame. I also sanded down the connection points where the alternator and starter mount to make sure I had a good ground.

cheers!

 

[KingChuck24]

Oh ok I was also missing the charging wire from the alternator, not sure if that is causing my issues but I will attach that there as well.

 

[Goblinfanclub1234]

Oh ok I was also missing the charging wire from the alternator, not sure if that is causing my issues but I will attach that there as well.

yes I think it can def cause issues if the alternator is not connected. there is also a fuse built in to the alternator wire, if you have a multimeter you can check to make sure the wire is good.

 

[Goblinfanclub1234]

also now that you did short out the system I would go back and check every fuse in the car!!!

cheers

 

[KingChuck24]

Just connected the alternator positive and checked all of the fuses and everything is good. Tried powering it up again and no luck. I am going to plug in all of the wires that I don’t have plugged in now but after that I don’t really know what to do.

 

[KingChuck24]

Just connected all the wires and still nothing. There are some that are still unconnected but I don’t think that would affect the starting of the dash. Any other ideas? Maybe measure voltage coming into the dash? I don’t know much about this so really any ideas help!

 

[Robinjo]

Plug them all into their spots…. I think the 1st and 3rd photo are important to actually getting systems power.

 

[KingChuck24]

Plug them all into their spots…. I think the 1st and 3rd photo are important to actually getting systems power.

Will do, I will look again for where they connect but I was unable to locate it before. I may just be being a little dumb right now.

 

[KingChuck24]

Checked again and couldn't really figure much out. The third wire seems to me like the one that would go onto the top of the ignition but in the video that says it is only for automatic cars and not for manual ones. The first wire I looked all around the fuse box area goes, if anyone could identify them that would help a lot I think.