I have a 1984 Fiero SE 4 cyl.

I had just moved and drove the car about 300 miles, right when I go to my destination, it died. Battery was good and the lights would come on but the engine wouldn't even crank. got it towed somewhere i could work on it and I had just finished replacing the starter ( I just got a new starter from a fiero I found at a salvage yard ) as that was the only thing I think it could be. With the new starter in, I had charged the battery and was reading a good 12.24 volts, but when I went to start the car, not even the lights would turn on. it's as if the battery wasn't even in the car, but its hooked up correctly and has a good charge with it. Before I put the new starter in, I didn't have any issues getting any of the lights on, but the starter shouldn't have anything with getting the lights on right?

any help would be appreciated! Thank you.


***Update: found the issue. Turned out to be a bad ground wire, just replaced it and we are back up and running!***

[This message has been edited by FranklinTurl (edited 09-07-2021).]

Easiest thing to do is take one end of a jumper cable to the negative of the battery and take the other end and clamp it to the engine block. Just make sure its out of the way of moving parts. See if you at least get power back to the interior. Sounds like a bad/failing ground.

quote Originally posted by FranklinTurl: I have a 1984 Fiero SE 4 cyl.

On the 84, the wires with fusible links connect to the starter (same post as battery cable) and power the rest of the car.
Only the small Purple wire is on the small connection to activate the solenoid.



The negative battery cable grounds to the engine head with and additional ground to frame (also one at transmission end).



------------------
My World of Wheels Winners (Click on links below)

3.4L Supercharged 87 GT and Super Duty 4 Indy #163

[This message has been edited by fierosound (edited 09-07-2021).]

quote Originally posted by FranklinTurl: I have a 1984 Fiero SE 4 cyl. I had just moved and drove the car about 300 miles, right when I go to my destination, it died. Battery was good and the lights would come on but the engine wouldn't even crank. got it towed somewhere i could work on it and I had just finished replacing the starter ( I just got a new starter from a fiero I found at a salvage yard ) as that was the only thing I think it could be. With the new starter in, I had charged the battery and was reading a good 12.24 volts, but when I went to start the car, not even the lights would turn on. it's as if the battery wasn't even in the car, but its hooked up correctly and has a good charge with it. Before I put the new starter in, I didn't have any issues getting any of the lights on, but the starter shouldn't have anything with getting the lights on right? any help would be appreciated! Thank you.

I had the same issue with my 84, no signs of life except the lights. there is a wire that runs from the generator to the starter solenoid that sends power to the rest of the car somehow (not quite sure how). mine was replaced with a regular wire at one point and it burnt out. took forever to figure out. it is the red wire on the top of the generator. try running another wire to the starter from the generator to see if it is indeed your problem. I installed a fuse at the generator and replaced the burnt wire and it solved my issue. on the first diagram, the wire has fusible link A as part of it. hope this helps!

wiring diagrams for 84 fiero

[This message has been edited by katie80 (edited 09-07-2021).]

Thank you to everyone that helped, I got it all figured out! it was a bad ground wire.

quote Originally posted by FranklinTurl: Thank you to everyone that helped, I got it all figured out! it was a bad ground wire.