I just rebult my throttle body and put new intake mani gaskets on. I go to turn the key to the on position and all the dash lights turn on no problem but then i try to start it and it looses all power till i unhook the battery and hook it back up. Any ideas?

Sounds like a bad high resistance connection. Battery terminals. Internal battery failure.

So where should i look to resolve the issue? The battery is brand new by the way

I had this problem too, it was on my Camaro but it sounds like the same thing. Everything will work until I tried to use the starter, I would lose all power after the starter clicked once. I assumed it was the ground, but it turned out that it was my positive cable. I could bump start the car, have you tried that yet?

If you still have the problem, try to take a piece of wire and hot jump the starter. If it kicks over then just wire in a button or switch for the starter. Make sure the car is in neutral if you have to try that!

Edited October 6, 20169 yr by sparkyboy

I would check the battery terminals if those are not new. I was plagued with starting issues but the dash lights and everything else worked. It turned out I had some corrosion on the inside of the battery wire terminals. I looked at the most complicated issues first and it was a simple 30 second fix with a wire brush.

Edited October 6, 20169 yr by loyale1993

I havent tried to bump start it or anything yet i ran out of light the other day so i couldnt do anything else i was gunna try and jump the starter and see if that would turn it over next but i will also check the connections to make sure they arnt corroded

Its funny you say wire a push button sparkyboy because thats what i had to do with a 99 impreza i had and im guessing i will have to do with this

Hahaha! Yeah, sometimes the start position on the key stops working and it's easier to wire in a button than take the steering column apart :-)

My Camaro has had a button for years.

If it starts when i jump the starter today after work thats what ill end up doing

Check the wires and terminals on the battery. The click no crank problem that is caused by high resistance in the starter solenoid circuit doesn't kill al of the power. It just does click and no crank.

 

I've seen fairly new batteries fail due to a broken intercell connection.

 

Easy way to find out is to jump with a pair of heavy gauge jumper cables. Like awg1 or awg0 , not the El cheapo ones with 10awg wire.

 

Other way, hold volt meter probes on the battery terminals not the clamps. Have someone else turn the key. If the voltage goes away, battery I'd broken inside. Normal to drop to around 9 v if the starter is cranking. Fully charged undisturbed for a day, it should read 12.6v

 

...it looses all power till i unhook the battery and hook it back up. Any ideas?

 

If it starts when you reconnect the battery then the problem is most likely the cables/terminals.  I would start by cleaning the terminals as previously suggested.  Then recharge the battery before doing a test for it's condition.  Once battery and cables are eliminated, if problem persists then look into alternate sources.

 

Does the '94 model have a relay on the starter ?  Models without the relay can often solve starting problems by adding a simple relay.  That solved my starting problems. 

 

If it already has a working relay then I would pursue possible problems in the park neutral switch; then the ignition switch.

Update: i took the starter off and took it to advance to have them test it and it poped their circuit breaker so im thinking thats the problem also the first battery they gave me was junk

Update: got the car to turn over and run it was hydrolocked

Wow, that's an unusual one! Any idea how it got that way?

My guess is when I had the intake mani off and was cleaning the matting surfaces some of the coolant from the coolant passage got into the head or something along those lines without me realizing it, runs good now though better than when I got it and no check engine light. Gunna do the ignition timing today after work and see where that gets me

Yeah, that could do it. I guess it's a good idea to check by turning the crankshaft with a wrench when something like this happens. I have not had or seen this happen, so didn't even think of it based on the description of what was happening.

Didn't think of it either till we hooked up my buddies truck to the battery cables and it was trying harder to start but still ended up doing the same thing and then he suggested it, sure enough we pulled the plugs and the starter engaged and shot some coolant in my face