OK, I finally get my car painted and everything back together and go to take it for a test ride and it turns over once then nothing. The battery becomes totally dead. I then put in battery #2, which I know is good and it starts up. I figure, no problem, it must be the battery. I drive it a few miles down the road and then it dies from power braking while it is still cold. Go to start it up and it starts to click over then bam nothing. Again the battery is drained completely, no radio or even LED's in the dash. I tested for shorts by connecting a tester in-line with the battery and nothing. Is it the starter, alternator, selenoid, voltage reg, or something else? I'm guessing starter because it drains so quickly and only when I try to turn it over. Funny, I had no problems starting it all the time when it was stripped to nothing and I couldn't drive it anywhere.
Check the condition of your battery cables as I know my wife was ready to kill me 'cause I kept forgetting to fix the one on her Cougar. If the starter is suspected of draining down the battery that quick you can quickly tell by carefully placing your hand on the starter. If it's the starter it should be stinkin' hot. If the second battery was a good batery and fully charged you would've gotten a lot further than you did before the battery was drained down. Man, I hate electrical. Could be something else, all I can think of for now.
It's probabably not totally dead, I'll measure it later with a meter. It seems totally dead because even the LED's on the instrument panel don't light up. I charged up my battery so I'll try to start it again today and do some more testing.
ditto on what a few said here.. but charge the battery up... start the car up and get a meter to see if its charging. it first sounds like an alt problem to me. also check all lines that are supposed to be hot (with power) are on, when the car is running. hope you find the problem
i had the same exact problem....and believe it or not....the starter is your problem.... i replaced all the wires and alt and battery in mine....and the starter would turn the engine and eventually it wouldnt turn the motor....i kep thinking the battery was dead and put a charger on it.....same thing the next day replaced the starter and the battery was good again.... the problem is...the starter ghoes bad and requires so much amperage that the batterycant keep up.... hope this helps ya good luck
Mavaholic was right. The batteries had a charge, there must be some type of fuse or something (maybe the fusible link?) that shuts off and makes the battery seem totally dead. I then checked the selonoid and that wasn't it so I pulled the starter and took it to get tested. I also took an extra starter I had from my 74 and they both passed. I put the extra starter in just to try that and everything works fine now. Stmanser was right, it was the starter. Thanks everyone. I'm going cruising now.
