1978z engine clicking then dying

[CA78z]

I just bought a 1978 Z my first Z that I have owned. The engine is clean and the previous owner had kept her paperwork in order. Other than needing a new battery it seemed to be running fine until tonight. There was a faint clicking sound that got a little louder for just a few seconds and then it shut down. When trying to restart the car it made the standard starter clicking sound and would not turn over.

Does anyone have any ideas? Trying to figure out if it is within my pay scale to fix myself or if I need to take it to a shop?

[jccampbe2001]

Try taking the steering column cover off (I think there are 4 screws) and there are 2 wires and a plug that are attached to where you put the key in. Make sure they are firmly seated. Check the fuses also. You might want to clean the contacts in the fuse box and in steering column.

I was having all kind of strange electrical problems, looked at the fuses, they were fine. Then I took all the fused out cleaned them with contact cleaner and a small wire brush, replaced all the fuses with new ones and then all the electrical problems were fixed.

[titaniumspine]

First have your battery checked. Check voltage then the ampereage. Auto Zone, OReily's, or Napa can check this for you. If the battery checks out the starter soleniod my be bad. When you by a starter it comes with a new soleniod.

Good Luck, Dan Gleason

[Zed Head]

Don't' forget to clean your battery terminals when you have the battery out. Dirty terminals cause a lot of problems. I've known about terminals being a potential problem for many years, and I still came close to buying a new starter about a year ago, before I realized it might be the terminals, cleaned them up, and got back to normal.