i'm new to this so please bear with me. i have a 1978 280z, the other day my starter gave out, so i went out and got a new one. i instaled the new starter, but now nothing works. i replaced the battery cables, the main relay, and some fusible links that needed replacing, but still i have no power. even the lights don't work. any ideas as to what could be wrong.

 

battery could be completely dead for some reason... unplug the batt and check the voltage right on the terminals.

 

check for all ground wires...check if there all grounded

 

First, thanks for the assistance. The battery has a full charge, and i checked all connections and they all look ok.

 

Looks like everything points to the battery & main cables.... get a light or multi-meter & start checking all the main cables for power, till you find the point where the power stops...

If your battery cables aren't tight, or have corrosion, the electricity has a hard time passing through.

 

i checked, power stops at the first relay after the battery, I replaced that relay just to see if that was the problem, but its still the same. i don't get any thing else after that relay.

 

It's most likely a bad main cable connection like nismo said. If nothing is working AND the fuse links and battery are good then that pretty much narrows the list of culprits down. Remove the battery cables and clean them up. Clean up their connecting points really good too. Test the resistance of the cables to make sure there is not a problem within the insulation of the cable. Hook up the neg. cable and test resistance between the chassis and the top of the neg cable.

 

With all the wires hooked up take any 12 volt light and connect one lead to the battery positive and the other lead to the fender or firewall. If it doesn't work then your battery ground cable is probably at fault, usually at the connection on the bell housing.

 

Hmm, I'm having a similar problem. How do you tale the starter out, if you don't mind me askin?

 

Hmm, I'm havin' a similar problem, How do you take the starter out, if you don't mind me askin?

 

Same way you would any other vehicle. Pull the battery cable, take the wires loose from the back of the starter, pull the two mounting bolts from the bell housing and the start comes right out. Last time I swapped a starter is took me 15 minutes.