1962 Electrical problem - No start

[Dino L.]

Took my car out of storage today. Took the battery tender off, started the car and backed it out of the driveway. Car is completely restored and has new harness. Car ran fine before I shut it off. Two hours later I try to start the car and nothing, no cranking or solenoid noise. I removed the cutoff switch from the battery to eliminate that to no avail. Checked battery voltage at 12.7 V....headlights/tail lights do not work, interior courtesy light works. All fuses check fine with an Ohm meter. Before I jump into trouble shooting I thought I would ask the opinions of experts on likely culprits. Can you share your thoughts. I am comfortable with car electric circuits. Thank you in advance. Dino

[Edward J.]

Re: 1962 Electrical problem - No start

Dino, I would start by turning on headlights, and then start by wiggling the firewall connections, check horn relay I believe has a battery wire connection to power up lights, I do not have a wire diagram.

[Dino L.]

Re: 1962 Electrical problem - No start

Thanks Ed, I had a hunch the battery could be bad, although the voltage read well at 12.7v when I took it to a battery shop, the battery failed on crank amps under load, new battery solved the issue. Never saw a battery fail like that before.

[Larry E.]

Re: 1962 Electrical problem - No start

Dino;Yes I have seen this before; even with smaller (flashlight batteries). Having a Battery Load tester helps.
See Below. Glad you got it going. Larry