I messed up and shorted my battery terminals and my 1981 280zx (non turbo, manual) will not start. Turn the key and voltage indicator goes to 0 - 1 volts then nothing. Will not turn over. I changed the starter and tried another battery. Same results. However, when I jump start the car it starts fine and drives with no problems. Fusable links, fuses and relays all check good. Any ideas on what to trouble shoot next? Thanks.

 

Clean the corrosion off your battery terminals? other then that it just sounds like its not connecting.

 

I had that problem with one of my past Honda's. The positive connector on the Honda was stripped out, so it wouldn't tighten. I went to Walmart, bought new ends, installed them, and it fired right up!

Check to see if your connectors are actually clamping onto the battery posts. Look for corrosion on the primary wires, etc. Look at everything that is doable for free first. Sometimes, you just skim over the most simple of things, spend a bunch of money, then find it and kick yourself for a while.

 

On zcar.com we talked about this and on a 280zx when you short the battery it often burns a portion or all of the ECU.