help! no electrical power to the car

[nautica_t]

i lose power the whole car when i try to put the key in the start position.

i currently have all the fuses pulled out of the driver's side fuse panel.the only one i have left in there is the interior light fuse.on the right side 3rd one from the top.

i dont' know what it could be, it randomly just happened. went to watch a movie come back go to switch the key to start the car, boom, lose power to the entire car, no 4-ways no interior light no nothing.

but if i pull all the fuses and re-seat the interior light fuse, i can get full power to the car again. so right now, i have only one fuse connected. to see if i can find the problem. but to no avail, i can't find anything.

no fuses are popped or anything, i pull the fuse out and put the fuse back in, and i get power to the whole car again, put they key into the on position, i have everything still, but once i go to put the key in the start position, i hear a click and i lose power to the entire car again, until i pull the fuse out and put it back in

does anybody have any ideas what could be causing the car to do such a thing.

[vancouverbc]

check your starter connections.
Modified by vancouverbc at 2:18 PM 6/4/2007

[nautica_t]

i tried swapping out the starter's to see if anything.

now in terms of starter connectionsi noticed one harness connects directly to the battery and the starter motorand than one wire goes into the wire loom and than goes inside the car,

so i'm kind of stomped where to look.

how about the ignition relay, could that possibly go kaplunk and cause this to happen

[vancouverbc]

There isnt much to the starter circuit so it should be easy to figure out. Im not sure what is going on. I would check that the battery cables are tight.Take the interlock relay out and see what happens when you turn key to start. You put in a new starter so I assume everything is good there. I guess the wire from the ignition to starter is grounding out somewhere.

check the starter trouble-shooting tutorial in my signature for diagrams and more info.

[nautica_t]

yeah i was looking at it, but i'm just still puzzled

as the cables are on securely to the battery.

what originally happened was i went to watch a movie, drove there perfectly fine, and after the movie was done about an hour and a half later the car wouldn't start and it just lost all power.

likeif i pull all the fuses, and now that i'm looking at the picture of the fuse box, its highlighted in white,i only have that fuse in right now and when i go to put it in the start position i hear a click and i have no power to the car again, remove the fuse and put it back in, and i got power again, so i'm quite lost at the moment.

[vancouverbc]

when you turn key power goes down the wire to the interlock relay and then to starter. you just have to isolate where the wire is touching the car(ie ground). you can first disconnect the ignition wire at the starter. there is a picture of this wire in starter trouble-shoot tutorial. if you still have the problem disconnect the interlock relay. if you still have the symptoms you know the problem is between the ignition switch and interlock relay.

[nautica_t]

okay i got it up and running again, but i really don't know what the root problem is.

i ended up replacing all the relays as well getting the battery and alternator warrantied cause i was being such a pain about having them being new or freshly rebuilt just in case that was the problem.

so it could've been any of those items or conjunction of those items.