No power for anything but flashers after electric clean up

[EricOB]

We've spent nights and weekends restoring our '72 Adventurewagen for years. Next week, we're set to drive across the country in it. So, I'm freaking out a bit after what just happened. Our car now won't start. I'd be grateful for any help.

Backstory: Our bus has been running great and we've gone through most of it. But our left blinker has always flashed weirdly slow. Recently, we paid a local shop to install a stereo. After that, I noticed the stereo would turn off when I turned on the blinker. I also recently noticed the left blinker wasn't turning on at all when the brakes were pressed (maybe unrelated to stereo). Today I went through and cleaned all of the bulb connections and checked all of the grounds. I found one that wasn't connected at the right headlight and connected that. I also redid the stereo wiring. There was a red and yellow wire. I connected the red to the accessory fuse position for the '72 and the yellow straight to the battery via a fused connection. I was a little hesitant about that one, but it was seemed like the cleanest solution after reading around on here.

When I plugged back in the battery, it wouldn't start. So I had my battery tested at my local auto parts store because it had been acting up, too. It failed. But after installing the new battery, no change.

So, where we're at now: Only the overhead light works. When I turn the key, nothing happens. There's no idiot lights or action of any kind at the dash. The emergency flashers do work. No headlights. No nothing else. It seems like I must have unplugged something on accident or totally fried something.

Any advice on where to start? I thought searching would yield an easy answer, but came up empty.

Thanks Samba!



Here's a picture of her:

[busdaddy]

Welcome!

[EricOB]

[busdaddy]

Well when everything is correct the bus will start and run with all the fuses removed from the fuse box, none of the idiot lights or other things wil work, but the ignition circuit is unfused. Something's been knocked loose or has broken, or maybe corrosion has finally gotten the better of that connection at the starter. Does the dome light dim when you try other stuff?, maybe it's not drawing enough to kill the circuit, but added things do? Or is the dome light wired to some aftermarket supply from a second battery in the back?
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[EricOB]

[Abscate]

It’s hard to work under the gun and learn the craft and troubleshoot at the same time.

Get the wiring diagram for your Bus, laminate it, and have it by your side

Start measuring voltages at the battery and follow it the ignition switch. That’s the most likely failure spot
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[EricOB]

[kinggeorge13]

Yep, just for fun and to knock it off the list, grab your multimeter and check the voltages along your fuses to make sure +12 is getting there. Key in run position. You may want to disconnect the + to your coil to make sure it's not sitting with the points closed and drawing current through it and getting it plenty hot with the key on. Use tape to mark all the connections on your coil before you start pulling off wires though or you'll possibly add a whole new level of confusion and problems.
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1975 Westy, Serenity w/FI
1975 Westy, Jack Sparrow w/FI
1979 Kombi, Pistachio w/FI
1979 Kombi, Oliver wFI
1977 Tin top camper, Cosmos w/FI
1974 Westy, Garfield w/ Dual Solex PDSIT
1973 Tin top camper, Bart
1974 gutted Dorper Casper w/ Dual Solex PDSIT
1975 Westy, Stella w/single progressive Weber
1979 Super Beetle, Penelope w/FI
1967 Fastback, Green Hornet w/dual Solex

[SGKent]

maybe you can make a few measurements and tell us where you have 12V.
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"Most people don't know what they're doing, and a lot of them are really good at it." - George Carlin

[kinggeorge13]

I'm also curious about the connection you made with your headlight. You had not written that there was any problem with the headlights and up until you did that connection (and redid/cleaned all the other light connections and redid the stereo connections), your bus started. Now it does not. And most electronics not running. When you wrote you went back and undid the changes you made does that mean you fully disconnected the stereo power (the two wires) and the one you put back onto the headlight?

And while I don't really believe this is the problem, just for fun, is there anyway that your new battery has been hooked up backwards? Sometimes the posts of replacement batteries are in a different location (middle instead of top edge, etc) but I don't think that would give you these particular results but worth asking, I suppose.

And yeah it would be useful to know the voltages at your starter solenoid and starter both in the run position and starting position of the ignition key.
_________________
1975 Westy, Serenity w/FI
1975 Westy, Jack Sparrow w/FI
1979 Kombi, Pistachio w/FI
1979 Kombi, Oliver wFI
1977 Tin top camper, Cosmos w/FI
1974 Westy, Garfield w/ Dual Solex PDSIT
1973 Tin top camper, Bart
1974 gutted Dorper Casper w/ Dual Solex PDSIT
1975 Westy, Stella w/single progressive Weber
1979 Super Beetle, Penelope w/FI
1967 Fastback, Green Hornet w/dual Solex

[Abscate]

Here’s a quick pick list.

You have a nocrank, no start condition.

1Go to your battery, measure voltage across +- to four significant figures. Hold meter until reading is stable

Example 12.66 Volts

2 Now go back to your coil, find terminal 15.

Coil has two terminals, one called 15 and the other called 1

one goes down to distributor m that’s terminal 1

Turn key on

Measure voltage between terminal 15 and Battery -

That should be as close to B+ as you can get, within 0.1 Volt

Turn key off


If you don’t have B+ at Terminal 15, you follow the wires backwards using the diagram until you find where the B+ matches the battery ( key on for each test)

And that locates the fault(s)
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[Wildthings]

Do your dome lights go out or blink when your turn your flashers on? I am thinking you have a major voltage drop between the battery and the fuse box. Most likely it will be something like old corroded replacement style battery cable terminals.

New larger gauge battery cables and a new transmission ground strap may well be the answer to your problems. These as the kinds of things that I change in the first few day of ownership of a used vehicle. Just not worth dealing with one no start issue after another caused by old cable well past their service life. Using Vasoline on the battery posts and the insides and outsides of the cable terminals will help your grade.

[kinggeorge13]

No responses. I'm starting to wonder if the blonde woman in the photo has throttled ol' EricOB for crushing their big trip before it even started and that is the end of this thread....
_________________
1975 Westy, Serenity w/FI
1975 Westy, Jack Sparrow w/FI
1979 Kombi, Pistachio w/FI
1979 Kombi, Oliver wFI
1977 Tin top camper, Cosmos w/FI
1974 Westy, Garfield w/ Dual Solex PDSIT
1973 Tin top camper, Bart
1974 gutted Dorper Casper w/ Dual Solex PDSIT
1975 Westy, Stella w/single progressive Weber
1979 Super Beetle, Penelope w/FI
1967 Fastback, Green Hornet w/dual Solex

[EricOB]

Thanks all for the replies! I went out and bought a multimeter today after work. Tomorrow is my last day of formal employment so I’ll be able to dive in deeper after that.

I’m really hoping that I find we just accidentally knocked a big power wire loose from the fuse box and it’s a quick fix. We were working in there a good amount. We have new battery cables but we have had issues a couple times with getting a good battery connection at the terminal, so that could be a thing too. I got a new ground strap and I’ll go over the connections down there.

We’ve gone through so much of the bus at this point that this whole thing feels absurd to be happening at the last minute. She’s been running great.

I’ll follow up once I’ve run through a few of these suggestions! I spent hours last night just reading the diagram trying to make sure I had solid context for connections when I attack it again.

[Abscate]

Troubleshoot electrical backwards, starting at the thing(s) that aren’t working

Looking for faults randomly, like loose wires, will make your hair fall out, appendages shrink, and your partner run off with some random #vanlife guy and bendy yoga chick.
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[EricOB]

[orwell84]

I don’t have a direct answer to your question but here is something that’s helped me a lot troubleshooting electrical problems.

I start by printing out a quality color copy of the wiring diagram. I label everything on the diagram so I don’t have to keep looking it up.

I take a lot of photos of the wiring under the dash and enlarge the photos on the computer screen and try to get a sense of where things are with the diagram. I find I’m much more patient with it that way and my time flailing away under the dash is shorter and more purposeful. My instinct is to stuff myself under there and try random stuff but it only makes it worse.

You will end up learning a lot more about your electrical than you need to solve your current problem, but it is not time wasted as it will be of help someday.

Something most likely got knocked loose that is a simple fix. It’s just finding it that’s the hard part.

[Wildthings]

[EricOB]

[busdaddy]