Got into my 72 mustang yesterday, turned the key, and nothing. Rolled it out of the garage, hooked up the jumper cables and nothing. No attempt to turn over. (no interior lights either). Put the trickle charger on it all day. Tried to start it. Saw a spark come from the battery and nothing. Put a new battery in today, turned the key, spark came from the negative terminal of the battery and nothing. I assume I just fried a brand new battery.

ANY THOUGHTS ON WHERE TO START LOOKING? I have done some primitive looking around and see no bare wires. I have NO CLUE where to start.

THANKS VERY MUCH FOR ANY ADVICE

 

Disconnect all the cables and clean the ends, then retighten them.

 

Please define "all". I'm not a mechanic and don't know if you mean just the battery cables or what. I did remove the battery cables, cleaned them and hooked them back up but nothing. Now I'm talking just the ends that connect to the battery.

Its almost like the car goes thru some kind of reset. Before I turn the key I have interior lights and dash indicators (oil light). Turn the key and there is a click and all lights and indicators go off. Wait 5 minutes and they are back.


Thanks

 

Where did you get your battery? I have seen people have problems with their charging system and more often than not it has been related to a cheap-o battery.

Clean your battery connections, they should be nice and shiney. If that doesn't help, clean the connections throughout the engine bay.

 

got the battery at Napa.

I'll start taking every connection off and clean it. Might I ask a stupid question? There is the main negative battery cable and there is a smaller 12 gauge wire attached to the negative cable. That smaller wire became unattached to something. I assumed it was attached under an "empty" screw I found attached to the body. Did I reconnect it at the wrong place?? I assumed it was just a grounding wire to the body of the car.

 

there should be 2 wires, black and red, one is positive and one is negative, the black one is the ground it connects to the negative terminal. i dont know why there is another cable from the negative, it probably came off the starter which would explain why your car isnt starting.

 

I would take a hard look at the ground. Make 100% sure its a solid connection to the body/block.

 

whip out the multimeter and test to see if your battery is in fact fully charged. Ensure you have the battery grounded and a clean connection on both terminals. Lastly ensure that the battery is connected to the starter.
Try and start it again with the starter connected. If it doesn't turn over then you could guess it's the starter. Autozone will check your starters, alternators, and batteries for free.

 

PROBLEM SOLVED. I cleaned every wire connection from the battery to the engine block ground and from the battery to the starter. I think it may have been the main ground causing my problem because it was quite dirty. In any event the car starts now.

THANKS A BUNCH!!

 

Problem not solved after all. Wanted to take the car to work today. Got in, turned the key......nothing.