No electric power whatsoever?

First thing I'd do is check to see if the battery is dead. Check it with a multimeter. It should read over 12 volts. Are the terminals are making contact with the battery? Use the ohm meter and check the negative post on the battery and the body/frame of the vehicle to see if the ground is still present. Simple things first.....

 

You turned off the master disconnect, under the hood in the fender??

 

I was gonna ask that too.

 

Moving past that, the big distribution block on the dash ahead of the fuses/relays is the next stop.

You have to move the relay panel to see it.

 

they all do... its a plug in the negative cable under the front bonnet on the left hand side... follow the negative cable off your battery. it turns into what looks like a ground strap (5-6 inches long, inch wide) and that is plugged into a socket. make sure it is firmly seated.

 

No, a completely failed battery won't jump off, in my experience.

You would not want to anyway, it is hard on the electrical system all around to try to top up a battery that low.

The alternator is designed to recharge a battery under normal use.

 

+1..
I would start with a new battery as you need one anyway.

 

Once a battery drops below a certain voltage and stays there for any considerable amount of time, it loses it's ability to hold a charge. In that state, putting a jump pack on it can only make it worse. Trickle charging is the best bet, but even then it would just behoove you to get a new battery. They are standard, so if you want to go the cheap route, you can

 

It is a standard size, but I ran into issues finding the "R" reversed posts last time I shopped.

All that had was an Optima!
$225 later, I had lights!

 

good call!

IIRC it's a size 34? and to follow your post, definitely not 34R... you'd be stretching and crossing!

 

Whoever worked on the fuel system would have disconnected the master switch at the battery front left forward of the wheel as a safety measure. Check there first.

 

Well not sure about some of the statements made here. First thing I'd do is take the battery in to a good shop. Mine came with an Interstate in it and it was fine even with long periods of sitting until just last year. So it lasted a good 10+ years.

After buying a new one I went to charge it as it had been sitting a long time again. It wouldn't charge properly but I took it in, they put it on their charger and charged it overnight. Now it works fine again.

Not all of these cars have a disconnect switch either. Mine grounds right to the frame about a foot from the battery. As far as I know none of rhe earlier cars had a battery disconnect. Then again I could be wrong but I've never seen it in any early parts diagram.

 

I had one similar experience, turned out the cable had corroded inside the battery clamp. If I hadn't seen a very small puff of smoke come from it when it actually failed never would figured it out. New cable solved it.

 

Even if the battery is dead, putting a charger on it at the very least would get dash lights and various other low amperage circuits to energize. Given that you're reporting that it's completely dead without that, then I'd take a look at the cables, ground and positive.

 

Not necessarily...... if it is dead and also shorted internally , it is shunted to ground. Therefore, any juice you apply will just short back to the negatively coupled source.

 

Don't forget the one from the engine to the frame. With the "auto-oiling" features some of these cars develop it can get pretty nasty.

 

Sometimes you just have to go back to the basics first. Never try to over think a problem in the beginning. I make that mistake all the time in my garage.

Glad it was simple, cheap and easy to fix

 

Good news Mark! I'm surprised Autozone had a 34R.

 

Its hard to tell sometimes until they load test them or try to charge it. Glad it was an easy fix!!

 

They are getting rare "in stock" at the national chains.

I bought an Optima at "Batteries Plus"..

You are correct, it's a 34, but a 34R, per my cable configuration.
Maybe that changed at some point...???