New battery but no electric to chassis at all

[bigskypc50]

Greetings all picked up a 73 Viva on a Dodge Sportsman chassis I picked it up for way way cheap and it's all there and runs they say and someone had running just a few months ago, however after putting in a good battery and trying to start it, I have no signs of life no lights no headlights northing totally dead no clicks at all. These folks need this rig moved out of there yard quickly. 

[CoastalWinnebago]

Is there a battery on off switch that has been installed somewhere between the battery and starter?

[bigskypc50]

Not that I can see, the negative go's straight to the block, and the positive go's right to the starter, that I can see.

[Elandan2]

Starter relay maybe?  All the power for the chassis runs through there.

[bigskypc50]

Any way to test it? I go back Monday and I need as many ideals and things to check as you guys can come up with thanks

[brians1969]

Even if the relay is bad, you still should be getting power to the accessories. Although it could be a bad connection or cable. Take a meter or even a test light with you. Start at the battery and work your way along. Bad ground?

If your not getting anything at all, and you have a good battery, there isn't too many things you are going to have to check. There might be a fusible link blown in there somewhere, which would kill accessory power and (I think) power to the relay coil. But with a meter, you should always detect power at the starter terminal.

[TerryH]

Even if the relay is bad, you still should be getting power to the accessories. Although it could be a bad connection or cable. Take a meter or even a test light with you. Start at the battery and work your way along. Bad ground?

If your not getting anything at all, and you have a good battery, there isn't too many things you are going to have to check. There might be a fusible link blown in there somewhere, which would kill accessory power and (I think) power to the relay coil. But with a meter, you should always detect power at the starter terminal.

Good advice. Start with the easiest tests first - ensure your battery IS good then cable connections to battery. ground to chassis connection, power to starter connection.
You may be surprised at how many electrical problems are traceable to a poor ground connection.

[bigskypc50]

Thanks, is there a master fuse anywhere? Someone could have hooked up jumper cables wrong hooked up battery cables wrong no clue what was done before. I will head out there with my DVM maybe Sunday and see what's going on.

[rustyzman]

The only Master Fuse on the sportsman chassis is the fusible link wire from the battery positive to the main wiring junction block on the firewall.  If that is disconnected or burned through, you will lose B+ power to the interior of the vehicle.  I would have to look at the wiring diagram again, but that might knock out all switched ignition power.  There is a fuse box under the dash between the steering column and the doghouse that has glass fuses as well. 

[bigskypc50]

A quick update to those who may find this thread... Turns out the issue was the red wire coming from the firewall plug to the battery terminal was bad and a plug on the ballist rester was flipped around backwards. Fixed those two and it started right up

[M & J]

Well Done!

[brians1969]

Nice! Do you have it home yet?