'71 Cutlass 350 4bbl
I'll start by saying when it comes to electrical, I admit to knowing just enough to be dangerous.

Went out this morning and she wouldn't start. At first I thought "battery" because she'd been sitting for a few weeks. But the multimeter says that the battery has 13 amps in it. Then I thought maybe a loose wire on the starter, but everything was tight.

Then I thought some more and the starter just didn't sound right. When I reconnect the battery, the door buzzer comes on, but if I turn the ignition...nothing, not even a death rattle, but the door buzzer stops as soon as the ignition is turned and does not come back on again. Also, there are no warning lights on in the dash which tells me that power is not getting to the rest of the car...wierd. The only thing that I can think of now is either a loose connection somwhere or a blown fuse.

I'm really at a loss here. Anyone have any ideas? I've been looking through the CSM, but so far no joy.

 

OK danger dude, that would be 13 Volts, not Amps.

Here's a suggestion - connect the VOLT meter to the terminal on the junction block / horn relay, then try starting the engine. This is to see if the VOLTAGE stays around 12-ish. One of my suspicions is there is a poor connection and when you try to engage the starter the resistive connection can't support the current, and the resistive connection goes open circuit. I've had that happen a lot of times. It also could be your battery has an internal issue.

 

Sorry. Meant to say volts. Just had amps on the brain.

What I don't get is if it is a connection to the starter, why would all of the electronics in the dash and interior not work?

 

Spent the last few hours crawling in the engine bay and underneath looking for worn wiring or evidence of mice, squirrels, cats, anything that might have been gnawing on things. Nothing.

Then miracle of miracles, I opened the door to get a wrench and the buzzer started going off. Just for goofiness sake I turned the ignition...and she started right up just as if the engine were warm and she hadn't been sitting.

I think of it as good and bad news. Good that she started. Bad, meaning that I have to have a loose connection somewhere that I must have jiggled when I was checking the wiring and now I have to run it down.

 

I would say it's a main wire from the battery that powers everything, and not just the cable down to the starter.

Do you have bolt-on cable ends on the battery? Those are notorious for corroding inside the cable clamps and causing intermittent connection issues.

 

What you describe sounds like a faulting ground (-) wire (connection) issue. If you have no ground you have no power. The car requires a complete & continuous loop/flow of electrons beginning w/ the battery ground (-) cable to the engine & chassis returning to the battery positive (+) terminal. Remove & clean each of your ground connections: (1) Negative battery terminal post should be spotless; (2) Negative battery cable ring terminal connection should be exceedingly clean (bright shiny metal); (3) Ground wire from battery negative (-) post to chassis (attached on metal upright next to fan shroud) should be cleaned - metal sanded, ring terminal clean w/ a solid connection; (4) Ground negative (-) wire/strap from engine head (rear passenger side) to firewall needs to be clean, ring terminals clean, sand paint from firewall metal for good connection; (5) The large ground negative (-) wire from battery negative (-) terminal post to the engine block needs to be clean, ring terminals clean, sand paint/metal at engine block ensure cable ring terminal is exceedingly clean - use a wire brush or replace ring terminal if faulty. Ensure each of the connections is secured tightly.