Strange Electrical Problem

The electrical system on my '89 Lebaron goes completely dead -- no
starter click, no lights, no dash - whenever after it sits overnight,
or sometimes for several hours. However, if I disconnect and reconnect
either battery cable, it will start instantly, and if it doesn't sit
for long periods, it will also start instantly. So the battery,
cables, starter and related equipt. must be OK.

Can anyone tell me what might be causing this problem? I'm wondering
if it's s related to a problem I had a few weeks ago when the battery
needle started jumping all over the place, and the Traveler computer
kept resetting itself. I thought i had cured that problem by
disconnecting, cleaning, and reconnecting, the cables. But maybe there
was something else going on that I wasn't aware of.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

Most likely ignition switch or a bad connection somewhere in the power
system. It sounds, from your description, like it stays bad for a while
when it fails - time to get the multimeter out and start tracing voltage
until you find the defect.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")