87 chevy no power

[chevy_power1995]

I have no power what so ever and i have no clue why?? when i took my starter out i accidently crossed over with the frame and sparked alot probably shorting something my guess but does anyone know what?? i looked at the ignition fuses and the start fuses they were all good is there any other places theres fuses besides underneath driver side by the pedals??? 1987 chevy silverado 5.7 4x4 or is there something else that maybe shorted or something???? or maybe a fuse somewhere that i cant see its fried???? no power period my lights wont even turn on and it doesnt crank nothing zero power batterys charged ground is good connections are tight.

[gchemist]

Check the fusabile links. The main link is on the firewall behind the brake booster. Check the wires heading to the alternator too.

[old Rusty C10]

you definately fried a fusible link

[James McClure]

Chevy: Problem is in "B"+ circut to the starter from the battery and or ground circut to the engine block, also from the battery. (this applys to a single battery system. Dual battery systems are different)
A short circut like you describe draws a huge amount of amperage and amperage = heat, lots of heat. Good thing here is what has happened is very localized. Only parts involved are the battery, the eng block and the battery cables. Fuse links are ok because they get power FROM the "B" terminal on the starter. They will only burn if the short is AFTER the starter in another circut fed by the fuse links. Same with fuses.
I know you all think I'm nuts, here's the logic to what I'm saying. Take a battery, a fuse and a light bulb and hook them up so power flows through the fuse to the lamp to ground and lamp lights. Short the FEED side of the fuse to ground and the fuse won't blow. In effect you have taken a wire and shorted the battery out. If you didn't cut into the 10 guage red wires attached to the "B" term on the starter everything "south" of the "B" term will be OK. A simple pull on the fuse links will tell you if they are burnt out.
If you have a side mount battery I want you to swap out the battery and recheck vehicle or turn the lights on and wiggle the cable ends and see if the lights flicker or light up. Side mount batteries are notorious for terminal failure ESPECIALLY if someone has used a bolt\nut arrangement to attach the cables to the battery instead of the short screw that comes with the cable. Seen this a hundred times over the years and have screwed up a battery or 2 myself doing just that. This being the case, get a new battery and both cables with the correct screws\bolts. Let me know what happens, jim

[57larry]

sounds like you didn't disconnect the battery when you dropped the starter out. sounds like a fried link

[James McClure]

Larry: Read my post just above this one. Links have to be OK unless the short generated was into one of the 2 red wires attached to the "B" terminal on the starter. If thats' the case you'll be able to see they are burnt out and a quick pull will verify this. Chevy would have seen they were burnt out when he went to reinstall starter and would have fixed them then, right? I've seen this before. I should add however that a failing starter can do the same thing to the supply side circutry a dead short does, it just takes a little longer. Very basicly what chevy did was in effect, hook the "B"+ battery cable to the "B"- cable represented by the frame in this case.
What usually happens as a result of this is one or the other or both side mount terminal ends inside the lead terminal itself melt and the nut the cable bolt screws into becomes very loose and looses connection. In rare cases where the battery is good but a cheap replacement and a short occurs in the "B"+ cable to ground this "meltdown" occurs inside the battery itself where the terminals attach to the plates, sometimes resulting in a arc inside the battery and an explosion. I'm sure Chevy will let us know what happened, but I'm still very much of the mind this failure is located in the cables, battery or both. jim