And this is why you shouldn't let them sit

[Ghoste]

Nice day so I went home at lunch to grab the Charger and bring it in to work thinking I'd take a little drive at the end of the day.  Backed it out of the garage and shut it off to let the dog out for a minute.  Went to jump in the car and... nothing!  Complete electrical failure.  It's something simple and it won't take long to track down but I sure didn't have time to diagnose at lunch.  Which meant I had to PUSH the car back into the garage.  Did I mention my driveway slopes down from the house.
Arrgh, this is why they shouldn't sit too long.  It makes for ideal conditions in which electrical gremlins can grow.


There, rant off.

[Old Moparz]

Arrgh, this is why they shouldn't sit too long. 

There, rant off.

It isn't just cars, I have the same problem with my body if I am sitting in one spot too long.

[nvrbdn]

now thats funny.......................true, but funny. and for the ghoste mobile, that sucks. plan a nice cruise, and get a slap in the face. hope it is an easy fix.

[hatersaurusrex]

Arrgh, this is why they shouldn't sit too long. 

There, rant off.

It isn't just cars, I have the same problem with my body if I am sitting in one spot too long.

[RallyeMike]

Guess # 1:  Battery terminal connection to cable. 20 second fix. No pushing required ?

[Old Moparz]

Guess # 1:  Battery terminal connection to cable. 20 second fix. No pushing required ?

I'll be trying that later.

[Lennard]

Guess # 1:  Battery terminal connection to cable. 20 second fix. No pushing required ?

I'll be trying that later.

[BrianShaughnessy]

Loose bulkhead connector?

[Ghoste]

The second fixes were all tried.  Somewhere between battery and dash though because as I said, it's complete failure.  Ran fine shortly before but checked battery quick anyway and its up.  Check bulkhead and fusible link, ckecked back of ammeter quick.  Will go over the the connections in a little more detail when I get home but I think it will be something simple.
This could even be one of those things where I try it in an hour and it works.  If that happens the car is getting a beating.

[Cooter]

Don't know bout you Ghoste, but I'd be looking at the starter relay for power in the "Start" position.

[Ghoste]

Did that too.  There are no headlights or power coming through anywhere so it pretty much limits the number of locations to check.  Haven't had a chance to get out there yet, I keep getting calls from work with fires to put out but the crew will be done for the day soon and I'll get the hood up.

[myk]

Did that too.  There are no headlights or power coming through anywhere so it pretty much limits the number of locations to check.  Haven't had a chance to get out there yet, I keep getting calls from work with fires to put out but the crew will be done for the day soon and I'll get the hood up.

I've got the same deal going on with my car, although I'm pretty sure it's the bulkhead connector.  When the car gets back from the body shop I'm driving it right over to another shop for a complete rewire-I'm tired of chasing electrical issues with wiring that all looks the same and crumbles if you look at it wrong.  How's your wiring?

[Ghoste]

Newer repro stuff from one end to the other.  It was all changed out around 8 or so years ago.

[BigBlackDodge]

Low blinker fluid or loose muffler bearing. Happens all the time.



BBD

[myk]

Newer repro stuff from one end to the other.  It was all changed out around 8 or so years ago.

Well shoot man, you got me; that wiring should still be good...

[Indygenerallee]

CHECK ALL YOUR GROUNDS!!!

[404NOTFOUND]

Another vote for the bulkhead connector.

[HANDM]

Starter relay, same thing happened on my Challenger, tried everything you did, knowing it was all good and as a last resort changed the relay and it fired right up. 

Try jumping the relay terminals, that's how I figured it was that.

Strange thing is, is that I never had a relay go bad in that way ever.

[Charger RT]

Put my charger back together (not restored) in 2000 with OEM wiring except engine harness from year one and it has had zero issues until last summer. My son pulled it out of the garage like we do all the time to pull something else in to work on. When done we decided to go get gas in the charger at the gas station it wouldn't start. It started to crank then just stopped cranking. It acted like a bad connection. It would click lose everything then 10 seconds later the console lights would come back on. It turns out the battery was losing the connection inside the battery. 
Tim

[myk]

Another vote for the bulkhead connector.

Goddamn bulkhead connectors.  I can't wait to have my Painless kit installed...

[UH60L]

Machines in general.  I work on helicopters for a living and if they don't fly for long periods of time, they develope hydraulic leaks, lose air pressure in the tires, and just generally have more problems than if they are flown more often.

Same thing happens to my lawn mower and my motorcycle too.  (my wife doesn't let me fly either one as often as I used to...       )

[b5blue]

  Try actually pulling on every crimped connection. (Like at the bulkhead connectors.) It's called a tug test, part of my USAF electronics installation training for making high reliability wiring harnesses.
  My new engine harness had the blue ignition wire just slide right out of the crimp, had I not caught this defective crimp sooner or later I'd had a vexing ignition issue. Connections can look fine and have continuity yet not be sound. 
  When I worked at a small independent car lot it was important to the owner that no car go more than a week without being used for a day for errands. He had a service station for 25 years prior to starting his car lot and told us all if they sit, they fail.   
 

[c00nhunterjoe]

Sounds to me like you need a can of engine vaccum

[69rtse4spd]

Had a cell  in the battery go bad on time, pull the bat. & take somewhere & have it checked. Then clean the post & connectors good  . Had the blue wire in the balk head come lose & did the same thing you described when I went to get gas one day.

[Dodge Don]

The likelihood that your car will die is directly proportional to the incline of the driveway and the lack of available help to push 4,000 lbs uphill. It is a scientific fact.

[metallicareload99]

The likelihood that your car will die is directly proportional to the incline of the driveway and the lack of available help to push 4,000 lbs uphill. It is a scientific fact.

[Cooter]

Your lucky yours broke down in the short distance from your garage. The 'ol reliable General let me down going to a show I was late for Saturday. Crusing along and BAM! Shut off like you hit the switch.

Had to get a ride with the State Police to the auto parts store for a coil (MSD). Don;t really know why this thing seems to like to eat a coil about every two years. Shoulda known damn near ALL my buddies woulda crused by bout the time that Crusier was behind my junk with lights on. My phone begins to blow up, didn't even wanna answer. Got to the show and heard all night long how I "musta been clocked at over 100 MPH"....

[Indygenerallee]

 

[Ghoste]

Oh man that sucks.  At least you got a good story out of it?

[Dino]

Mine died this morning while pulling into a parking spot backwards, just like Cooter said it was like someone flipped a switch.  Popped it in neutral, turned the key and it started right up.  I think I'm just going to ignore it happened....

[WINGIN IT]

Man I feel your pain. Was there last year with mine.

Dead as a doornail. Went through everything, and in the end what was it ....

A BAD GROUND at the ECU Module ....
Unfortunately it was mounted face up under the glove box and over time the connection weakened and then nothing...

I've had bad grounds the rad support as well.

Indy is a wise man , start takin' off bolts and start cleaning contacts and reinstall with dilectic grease. 
Want cost you anything but time... 

Good Luck, keep us posted

[LaOtto70Charger]

Did you try starting it in neutral?  Mine every now and than decides it won't even attempt to crank until after 5 or 6 turns of the key in neutral.  Or I guess have you ever replaced the ignition switch?

[Ghoste]

Good suggestions, but you forget that I said a complete electrical failure-no light, no horn, nothing.  That means it had to be limited to areas affacting the entire system.
As it is, it turned out to be a bunch of things.  I cleaned up all the grounds.  I opened the bulkhead connector but it was still in good shape (I cleaned it really well last year and put dielectric greas around all the connections.  I took off the battery terminals and and cleaned everything up there really well.  Tightened the leads on the back of the ammeter(they weren't flopping around back there but I redid them anyway).
All of those things together seemed to do the trick so in the end it was just the buildup from sitting around.  I finish how I started-don't let your Charger sit around.

[bill440rt]

Glad to hear you got it running again, Ghoste. Mine will do that from time to time as well if let to sit. Usually it's a bad ground or just the battery terminals needing a good cleaning from sitting. 

[Dino]

I had some more fun with mine yesterday!  When I left work it cut out on me again just as I turned onto the road....

Quickly popped it in neutral and started it up again, drive home was fine except my small gauges yet again did not work.  When I got home I turned the car off and tried starting it again and nothing, no power at all.  I start playing around with the new battery but everything was fine so I start looking around and see that the wiring around the bulhead connector looks even worse than usual so I start fiddling with it and hear my radio pop on.  Turned out that I must've disturbed the wires when I was wrestling with the carb and intake manifold last week.  I started pushing the connectors and one of them was pretty loose so now everyting's working again, including the gauges.  They still read wrong but at least they move again. 

Fix one thing, break two others...still love driving this beast more than anything else though.

[Ghoste]

I hear ya.   This issue and the reasons for it aside, two fo the best things I ever did for my Charger were new wiring harneses front to back and keeping the bulkhead connector gooped up with dielectric grease.

[Dino]

I hear ya.   This issue and the reasons for it aside, two fo the best things I ever did for my Charger were new wiring harneses front to back and keeping the bulkhead connector gooped up with dielectric grease.

Sometimes I think I should change all the wiring but to be honest it is in really good shape.  Underhood is a bit of a mess as the first owner changed the 318 for a 440 and didn't take the time to tuck the wiring away so it was all loose and all over the place.  Not to mention everything under the hood was spray bombed black, and I mean everything....

When I redo the car the wiring will come out and at that time I'll assess what needs to be done.  If it starts acting up however the order for a new harness will be done in about 10 seconds flat! 

[1969chargerrtse]

Reading your initial post. And this is one reason why I'm thinking of moving on. My 130.00 repo battery cable faulted on me. I was stuck in city traffic in the hot sun. I was looking under the hood when a guy in a pos yelled out to me in passing POS!  If the light was'nt green as he zipped by, with sweat dripping off of me I would of pulled a Rodney King on him. I'd probably still be in jail by now.

[Aero426]

Reading your initial post. And this is one reason why I'm thinking of moving on. My 130.00 repo battery cable faulted on me. I was stuck in city traffic in the hot sun. I was looking under the hood when a guy in a pos yelled out to me in passing POS!  If the light was'nt green as he zipped by, with sweat dripping off of me I would of pulled a Rodney King on him. I'd probably still be in jail by now.

Keep in mind the F-body you are thinking about buying is already over 10 years old with more to go wrong compared to your simple Charger.