I don't know if our car was stored in a barn before we bought it and mice ate the guts out of the wiring harnesses but this thing has had one electrical glitch after another. Zzzzt. Pow! What's wrong now?
A"C3" owning friend recommended I install a battery cut off switch so that the battery wouldn't die every time we parked the car for any extended period of time. That extended period of time being longer than, oh I don't know, say...a day? Obviously, something is still drawing on the battery when the car is not running.
Until I have the gumption to trouble shoot that issue, I can live with the minor inconvenience of a battery kill switch. Sure beats jump starting. The car has no computer so there's no way to hook it up to a diagnostic computer to help trouble shoot issues. One of many reasons I like the '77 Corvette versus newer, or less old ones, is their simplicity; these cars are as sophisticated as a lawn mower. A very old one. The downside is diagnostics are difficult.
Until I have the gumption to trouble shoot that issue, I can live with the minor inconvenience of a battery kill switch. Sure beats jump starting. The car has no computer so there's no way to hook it up to a diagnostic computer to help trouble shoot issues. One of many reasons I like the '77 Corvette versus newer, or less old ones, is their simplicity; these cars are as sophisticated as a lawn mower. A very old one. The downside is diagnostics are difficult.
On a sun splashed Sunday morning about three weeks ago I reconnected the battery before trying to turn her over. No go. The starter giving me that sluggish, tell tale, oh-so-GM, whir-whir--clickclickclick. What the? Yeah, the battery was dead. What's wrong, NOW?
The "new" battery, actually, a reconditioned battery, had gone bad. It happens. However, to get to that conclusion that the battery was indeed bad, I had to pull it out of the car to get it to the auto parts store for testing. I also removed the alternator from the car and took that down too. Better safe than sorry. The alternator tested just fine. Good.
Problem arose when I put the alternator back in. The plug that connects the alternator to the car broke apart. In attempting to "jerry rig" it back together, the red wire, yes, the power line or "hot lead", grounded on the alternator. Now of course, I hadn't cut power from the battery. A flash of light, a sharp zap that sounded like a gun shot, a puff of smoke and our Little Red Corvette was dead. I mean, DEAD. Zzzzt. Pow!! Worse yet, there were no blown fuses in the fuse box.
After much frantic research in internet forums, getting woefully wrong information at the auto parts store and fruitless searches for the car's "main fuse", I determined, through the forums, that the issue was the allegedly near indestructible "fusible link". Fusible links, in turns out, are heavy duty, in line fuses that protect the car from heavy electrical surges. If a car didn't have them, dangerous surges of electrical energy could result in fires. Understand, there's a tremendous amount of power in a 12 volt car battery. Thank goodness cars have DC power. Weekend mechanics like myself would be dropping like flies if cars were AC powered.
When you own an old car, much like owning a house, you either have to have cash to burn or be very handy. I ain't rich. A couple of hours under there with a fresh wiring harness and all's good with the world. When the car fired up, a nice warm feeling of calm washed over me. Of course, the Mrs. reminded me that the problem shouldn't have happened in the first place if I had disconnected the battery when working on the alternator. Yes, dear.
Our Little Red Corvette is a beloved member of our family; albeit an elderly member who can push the limits of our patience. With our bank account and with each other.
pictures and words Charles Connolly
Now, go on a good Sunday morning drive already :)
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